History Department Reforms

A tutors' rebellion that has been simmering in the History Department since last spring has brought changes in Harvard's largest field of study. Out of the set of sweeping reforms proposed by a group of tutors, the Department had judiciously accepted only one revision and added another of its own.

The Department voted to eliminate its sophomore essay requirement and to give junior general examinations. The tutors had requested an end to the essay, but their chief complaint was that too many seniors were being allowed to take honors and write a thesis.

Claiming that many of these seniors were unqualified to write a thesis, the tutors offered several methods for weeding out the incompetents. One suggestion was to raise minimum rank-list requirements for honors candidates from Group IV to III; another was to offer a seminar that seniors could take for honors in lieu of writing a thesis.

But the departmental committee that studied the various proposals this Fall rejected devices for paring down the honors program and advanced the junior-generals idea on its own. Even though Donald H. Fleming, chairman of the Department, has said the exam will help determine who gets into honors, lie doubts that junior-generals will reduce the number of thesis writers. In effect, the junior faculty tried to cut down the number of honors candidates, and the senior faculty refused to go along.

The Department has good reasons for keeping the honors program as open as it is now. There has been no sudden increase in the quantity of history honors candidates; since 1961-62, the number of honors students has fluctuated between 65 and 72 per cent of all seniors in the Department. This figure is not far out of line with the rest of the College: in the Class of 1966, 61 per cent of graduating seniors earned honors, not including cum laude in General Studies.

Moreover, a sustained effort in original scholarship like a thesis can be as valuable for an average student as for an exceptional one. Even if the senior does not turn out a minor masterpiece, the project will still involve him intensely in his field and its problems. But if honors candidates were hand-picked at the end of their junior year as the tutors suggest, some of the concentrators that might have benefited most from a thesis would be excluded. For the same reason, participation in a seminar is no substitute for the creative experience of writing a thesis.

The tutors may resume their efforts later this year to prod the Department into making more revisions. There is every reason for junior faculty members to attempt to influence department policy, but in this case it would be a mistake for the senior faculty to agree to reduce the size of the honors program.