Gov Dept. to Review HPC Audit Report

Arthur A. Maass, Chairman of the Government Department, said yesterday that the Department will give serious consideration this Fall to those Harvard Policy Committee proposals which it has not already adopted.

Over the summer, the Department incorporated three of the major proposals for reform that were included in last Spring's HPC educational audit. Requirements for related courses have been eased; approval for independent study will be easier to obtain; and a faculty Committee on Undergraduate Education has been established. A fourth proposal, abolition of the grade in senior tutorial, will become fact in a matter of days.

Immediate faculty response to other aspects of the HPC's report was not unanimously favorable, Maass explained yesterday, so those questions will be studied in sub-committees.

Of the changes already made, the one concerning related courses will have the widest effect. Instead of taking Economics 1 and a full year of history, concentrators will now be able to take four half courses from the Departments of Economics, History, and Social Relations. The new rule is immediately effective for all concentrators.

Of the questions still to be considered, the most important is the proposal to reduce by half the weight given to generals, relative to course grades and the thesis, in determining the degree of honors. The present ratio for generals, grades, and thesis is 4:4:2. Following an HPC suggestion, generals have been shortened from eight to six hours.

Maass said that a decision will be reached by November on whether to offer four areas of specialized concentration instead of the present three, a change that would involve dividing the area now called "political thought and institutions" into theory and comparative government. The faculty will also consider revising both sophomore tutorial and Government 1.

The Government Department report was the HPC's first educational audit. An audit of the Biology Department will be issued later this week, and eventually the Committee will study all major Departments in the University. The reports are compiled on the basis of faculty interviews and detailed questionnaires distributed to senior concentrators.