HPC to Study Role of Theses

The Harvard-Radcliffe Policy Committee has appointed subcommittees to evaluate senior thesis requirements and to reassess the educational role of ROTC at Harvard.

By taking polls of seniors, concentrators, and professors in various departments, the committee will try to learn whether most honors seniors write theses out of real interest or just out of a desire to graduate with an honors degree, HPC chairman Kenneth M. Kaufman '69, said last week.

The subcommittee will also conduct a comparative study of the thesis policy at Yale. Kaufman said the committee will consider finding a feasible alternative to the thesis and will incorporate any recommendations into a report to the HPC. The study should take several months, Kaufman said.

Presently, most departments require a thesis of each senior who wishes to graduate with honors.

The ROTC subcommittee, under Peter D. Goldberg '69, will co-operate with the HUC and the SFAC in investigating the role of ROTC on campus.

The HPC is particularly concerned with the basic policy question of ROTC's privileged pre-professional status. Currently, undergraduates may take essentially vocational ROTC courses but are prohibited from enrolling in courses at the med, ed, law, divinity, and business schools. A discussion of ROTC is on the agenda for Wednesday's HPC meeting.