Phys Sci May Award Summas

The chairman of the Committee in Physical Sciences will urge the elimination of the current ban on highest honors in that field.

At present, the Department of Physical Sciences does not recommend students for a degree summa cum laude.

William Paul, Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics, and chairman of the Committee on Physical Sciences said yesterday that he fears this policy has "scared off" good students who would normally graduate with highest honors.

Paul said that at the freshman concentration meeting last week, he had found strong opposition to the Department position.

The policy was necessitated, Paul said, by the flexibility of the field which combined math, chemistry, physics, and a number of other sciences. It is possible for a student to get grades that would merit highest honors, while taking only introductory courses. When this problem first arose, the Committee on Physical Sciences referred it to the Committee on Educational Policy, which cancelled highest honors.

While Paul agreed that some limitation is necessary, he labelled the regulation "misleading" to entering students.