HPC Proposes Pass-Fail For Optional Fifth Course

The Harvard Policy Committee proposed yesterday that all students be allowed to take a fifth course, without charge, for ungraded credit.

The proposal, which will be submitted to Dean Ford next week, is the result of a lengthy study begun by the HPC last spring. Its specific recommendations are these:

* The fifth course must be ungraded. A student will specify the course on his study card, and will receive either a "pass" or "fail" designation on his transcript. (Those enrolled in tutorial for credit will still be able to take a graded fifth course.

* The pass-fail option cannot be taken for courses used to make up a deficiency or to accelerate.

* A pass-fail course cannot be dropped without the permission of the Administrative Board.

The HPC deliberately left unresolved several issues raised by the proposal, such as the use of the pass-fail course to fulfill language, Gen Ed, or concentration requirements. Ronald L. Trosper '67, the Committee's chairman, explained yesterday that the HPC simply wanted to present the Faculty with an idea, unconfused by administrative details.

Experimentation

Along with its formal proposal, the Committee will submit to Dean Ford a summary of its reasoning. The emphasis of the plan is "experimentation," permitting students to venture beyond their own fields without fear of competing on a curve with concentrators.

The pass-fail idea was attached to a fifth course, rather than to one of the normal four, because of the opportunities for ungraded credit (freshmen seminars, independent study, tutorial) that now exist. Other Ivy League schools which have experimented with pass-fail have five-course loads.

Pragmatic Questions

Dean Ford will probably submit the proposal to the Administrative Board for further study. From there it will have to be scrutinized by the major departments and studied by the Committee on Educational Policy, which will give a final recommendation to the Faculty.

Dean Monro said yesterday that he was "impressed by the firmness of the proposal." He noted that the Faculty will probably give it serious consideration but indicated that pragamatic questions, such as the cost of more students taking more courses, will be among the Faculty's chief concern.