University Abandons Proposal To Relocate Gen Ed Office

University officials continued to search for a new location for the General Education Office yesterday after student pressure blocked the proposed move of the offices to the Quad last week.

Susan W. Lewis, assistant dean of the College, said last night that a committee of administrators will meet next week to discuss possible locations.

"All that is known at this point is that the General Education offices will not be located at 103 Walker Street," Lewis said.

Alternate Sites

Ann Spence, assistant dean of the College, said yesterday there were three or four other possible locations, but she declined to specify them.

Edward T. Wilcox, director of General Education, was unavailable for comment on the move yesterday.

Construction of a new Biochemistry lab triggered the search for new Gen Ed offices, and the South House residence at 103 Walker Street was considered as a site until student protest mounted against the proposal.

James M. Redwine '78, chairman of the South House Committee, said yesterday the Gen Ed program does not generate the kind of academic involvement that warrants its occupation of the highpriority Walker St. student rooms.

"University officials got the impression that students would not oppose the move, so they jumped at the chance and resorted to the argument that the offices would provide day-time academic involvement," Redwine said.

"Students at the Quad recognize the need to make it more of an integral part of the University, but the Gen Ed offices are administrative in nature and will not provide the necessary interaction between students and faculty," he added.

Myopic Students

The students rejection of the proposed Quad location of the Gen Ed offices was short-sighted because the University will probably not be able to improve the academic atmosphere of the Quad by moving any other department there, Spence said.

"The major problem is finding a department that is large enough to involve undergraduates, but small enough to conform to the physical space at the Quad," Spence said.

Rulan C. Pian, master of South House, said yesterday, "the Gen Ed Office is not a place where students go frequently," adding that she felt the proposed move to South House was more an effort to simply find a new location for the offices than to involve the Quad in academic activities.