Seminars Will Operate With Smaller Grant

The House seminars program will continue next year although receiving a smaller appropriation than this term, Dean Monro has announced.

The seminars, instituted last fall by Monro, provide non-credit, informal sessions for non-Honors as well as Honors students to meet with Faculty members and leaders from outside the University.

Dean Monro explained that the budget allotment for the seminars had been curtailed for two reasons: the Houses, by using Faculty members in many cases, did not spend as much as expected, and the new tutorial plan for next year will presumably give more students the opportunity for Faculty contact in small sessions.

Masters Like Plan

Monro stated that he could not really judge student response to the seminars. The Masters, he added, seem to like the plan, although the experience and use of seminars varies greatly from House to House.

In the fall each House received $3000 to finance its program, but no full-time members of the Faculty could receive pay for conducting a seminar.

An informal survey in November showed that about 150 undergraduates were taking advantage of the seminars. Enrollments varied greatly among the different groups.

Current events in general and African problems in particular have met with the best response, the survey indicated.

Some of the seminars have centered on generally "non-academic" topics with non-academic leaders. A Boston lawyer and two journalists have been among them, but Monro said that he was unaware of any increase of such seminars planned for next year.

Monro also declared that the House program would work in with the new Yard plan.