Ford Wants Policy On Over-Concentration

Cum Laude and Magna Cum Laude departmental degrees which weighed grades outside the student's field of concentration would be "welcomed by many on the Faculty," according to Dean Ford.

Ford said he would favor any discussion by the Committee on Educational Policy or by the individual departments of formulas to solve the problem of "over-concentration."

"Over-concentration" refers to the fact that many students feel compelled to take all of their elective courses within their field, far outstripping departmental requirements for concentration.

Students complain that unless they over-concentrate, they are at a disadvantage when they take senior Generals. These exams, designed to test general competence in the student's field, are often weighed very heavily in computing departmental honors.

"The CEP has discussed this problem before," Ford said, "and I would welcome any move to bring it up again." Because of the increasing importance attached to Honors by students seeking admission to graduate schools, the Dean felt, pressure on students to take exclusively departmental courses might become "disproportionate."

Expects Good Reception

Ford said that the heavy Faculty support which the liberalized C.L.G.S. program received in December 1962--when the option of an Honors degree in general studies was extended to all thesis-writing seniors--indicated that steps to broaden the base of departmental Honors would also be well received.

He was referring to the Faculty meeting at which a CEP motion to graut C.L.G.S. degrees only to students who had performed adequately within their departments was firmly rejected.

Several professors indicated then that at a time when graduate school specialization was becoming the rule, heavy pressure to over-concentrate at an undergraduate level should be avoided.