Faculty Committee to Present Proposal on Women's Studies

The Faculty Committee on Women's Studies will submit a draft recommendation to the Faculty Council next Wednesday calling for the establishment of a standing Committee on Women's Studies to encourage the formation of courses on women and their history, members of the Faculty Committee said yesterday.

The Faculty Committee will not recommend establishing a department or a concentration in women's studies, Edward L. Keenan '57, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and chairman of the Faculty Committee, said yesterday.

The standing committee that would be created would primarily concern itself with encouraging departments to offer courses in women's studies, and would probably not offer courses on its own, Keenan said.

Not Yet Final

Keenan said the report is not yet in its final form, adding. "With the Core Curriculum coming upon us, we'll probably let the smoke clear and then see where we are."

Ruth E. Tringham, associate professor of Anthropology and a member of the Faculty Committee, said yesterday the standing, committee "would offer much more substantial encouragement to women's studies than has ever been given before," but added she did not know if there would be any "financial encouragement."

Susan Ware, the graduate student observer on the Faculty Committee, said yesterday the proposal is "a good way to move forward on women's studies," adding that everyone on the student committee, "is pretty pleased."

Last May an ad hoc student Committee on Women's Studies submitted a petition to Dean Rosovsky bearing over 1100 student signatures, asking him to consider creating a concentration in women's studies.

In response to the petition, the Faculty Council set up the temporary Faculty Council on Women's Studies in October to examine ways to expand the study of women and women's history at the University, including the possible establishment of a women's studies concentration.

Anna Clark '78, who has worked with the student Committee on Women's Studies, said yesterday the most important step the University must take is hiring professors to teach women's studies, adding that she doubts departments will be eager to make such appointments.