Dean Ford Tables Request by Ellis, Denies HCUA Admission to Meeting

Dean Ford last week denied a request by H. Reed Ellis '65, chairman of the HCUA, that "the chairman of the HCUA be allowed in the future to present personally to the Committee on the Houses the recommendations of the Council."

Ellis will meet with Ford this afternoon to discuss several alternative proposals.

Ellis made the suggestion to eliminate the need of "running down" individual masters and deans in connection with Council proposals. If the chairman could meet with the entire committee at one time, a lot of wasteful one-to-one confrontations could be disposed of, he said.

Ford replied that HCUA recommendations are considered by the Committee on the basis of each member's contact with the proposer, and that individual discussions are the best way to ensure that the proposals will be considered in detail. "This is a case where a seeming increase in efficiency would bring a lower level of deliberation," he said.

Pointing out that the Committee on Athletic Sports meets once a year with the Undergraduate Athletic Committee, Ford suggested that the HCUA arrange a similar joint dinner with one of the Faculty committees in place of the usual annual meeting between the Council and "a rather automatically composed list of administrative officers."

As the main point of his argument Ford mentioned a formal, "decisive" reason for his refusal to grant Ellis' request The Committee on the Houses is one of more than 40 standing Committees and Boards of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, all appointed by the President Once such a body is constituted, said Ford, it does not even expect other Faculty members to sit with it, except by invitation.