Dean, Students Meet, Discuss GSAS Reform

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) will seek input from students as part of an upcoming review of graduate education at Harvard, the dean of the GSAS told members of the school's student government at a meeting last week.

Edward L. Keenan Jr. '57 said yesterday he plans to discuss the review at meetings of the Council on Graduate Education (CGE), a student-faculty advisory committee.

"I hope at meetings of the CGE we can talk about the general issues of graduate education, as well as the bread-and-butter issues which are the more immediate ones for the students," he added.

Student Center?

Lee Smolins, a member of the Graduate Student Council (GSC) and head of a task force on GSAS student life, said Keenan also gave qualified approval at Thursday's meeting to a plan that would set up a graduate student center at the school.

"Although large inputs of dollars are not really in the cards, I am willing to explore the possibility of a center if the students come up with an idea," Keenan said yesterday.

He stressed however, the greater importance he places on the upcoming review of graduate education. "I understand that students want to discuss problems with their immediate day to day life, but as dean, I feel a responsibility to focus on the longer range issues," he said.

Students who attended Thursday's meeting reported that Keenan said that by involving graduate students in the review, he hopes to avoid what he sees as a mistake of the architects of the Core Curriculum, who did not solicit undergraduate advice in the early stages of their review.

Smolins added that Keenan told the meeting that because graduate education concerns the faculty so directly in the training of scholars, the process of determining the future of graduate education at Harvard will be a lengthy one.

Rosovsky Review

Dean Rosovsky is now conducting a personal review of graduate education, which he will present to the Faculty Council in November. Rosovsky has said the review will focus on a philosophical re-evaluation of the role of graduate education in a changing society.

Keenan said yesterday he hopes to begin the graduate discussion of the issues included in the review as soon as he announces the selection of this year's faculty members of the CGE, and the GSC selects the graduate student members.

Keenan and the students also discussed alternate possibilities for a graduate student center, graduate financial aid, and the morale of the GSAS at the meeting.

Randy Fertel, a council member, said Keenan and the students also discussed financial aid problems of graduate students.

Fertel said the task force wants to "pinpoint those areas in financial aid where people have been burned and send out information to clarify aid policies."