CUE Debates Foreign Study Propositions

The Educational Resources Group (ERG) yesterday recommended to the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) that Harvard should not join study abroad programs run by Stanford or other universities, but should concentrate on making its own foreign study program available to more students.

CUE postponed formal action on the proposal which calls for an Office of Foreign Study to coordinate administration and research for the program and a committee to evaluate all student's study-abroad petitions.

The ERG plan would allow students to work in any subject while at foreign universities--currently, half of the work a student does abroad must be in his field of concentration. The committee would also be allowed to grant Core Curriculum and distribution credits for work done abroad.

The academics committee of the Student Assembly sent a letter to CUE approving the ERG plan. The letter called for a continued consideration of other options, including linking up with existing programs.

CUE also considered establishing a panel to review independent work requests. Glen W. Bowersock, associate dean of the Faculty, said yesterday CUE may vote on the proposal designed to curb abuse of independent work at its next meeting.

Numbers

Bowersock said petitions for group independent work would not be accepted in the future because the Faculty "clearly envisioned" that independent work would be done individually when they passed legislation setting up the program.

The number of group independent work courses, including Kirkland House's seminar on the multiflex offense given by varsity quaterback Larry Brown, has increased from 3 to 23 per cent of total independent work petitions over the last two years, according to a report prepared by Dean Fox.

Fox said last week that the group courses were "a major part of the problem in the independent work program."

Bowersock and the Faculty Council agreed yesterday that the group projects are not permissible under the Faculty legislation.