WOMEN IN TROUBLE AT ED SCHOOL

To the Editors of The Crimson:

Lack of commitment on the part of the Harvard Graduate School of Education administration to renewing faculty contracts is threatening the positions of junior faculty members. Not surprisingly, those most affected are women. One woman faculty member has already resigned under the pressure, and others may have to follow her lead.

In the process of general reorganization, Dean Ylvisaker has cut out and consolidated the departments at the Ed School; notably, those dealing specifically with people: Learning Environments, Clinical Psychology and Public Practice, and Master of Arts and Teaching program. The faculty and students in these departments are fearful about their future and the Dean has done little to allay these fears.

One specific casualty of this confusion may be the proposed Women's Studies Course. A group of women are seeking to initiate a course (or courses) dealing with "Women in Education," but they are meeting with difficulty since future appointments of the female faculty members, who they had hoped would teach the course, seem to be tenuous. The need for such a course is obvious in that the majority of both students and educators in the U.S. are women.

The concept of affirmative action seems to be threatened here. Ed School faculty and students are at a loss as to where to look for support during this upheaval. Decisive action by the Dean is long overdue. Nancy Dusek   Elaine French