Faculty Reforms Tutorials, Defers S. Africa Debate

After weeks of debate, the Faculty approved yesterday the tutorial reforms submitted by Glen W. Bowersock '57, associate dean of the Faculty on undergraduate education.

In other business, the Faculty postponed its debate on corporate investments in South Africa, scheduled as the last item on the docket yesterday, after the discussion on Extension Studies degrees ran late.

Everett I. Mendelsohn, professor of History of Science, who planned to speak on corporate divestiture, asked President Bok to extend the meeting for 30 minutes.

Bok said he would grant the extension, but mentioned that he would have to leave at the regular time for an appointment. The Faculty then withdrew its request for an extension.

The legislation the Faculty completed yesterday will increase professors' participation in tutorials. It requires each faculty member to teach a minimum of one tutorial per term.

The reforms also ask each department to offer special sophomore and junior seminars taught by professors that undergraduates may take in lieu of tutorials run by graduate students.

Bowersock originally limited these seminar offerings to juniors. He decided to expand them last week following requests by chairmen in the English, Fine Arts and the Classics departments.

The tutorial legislation also requires each department to set up a student-faculty committee to supervise its tutorial program.

At the Faculty meeting yesterday several professors opposed creating these committees.

For example, Robert Nozick, professor of Philosophy, said he would oppose the legislation unless Bowersock could cite precisely the number of hours the reforms would demand of the Faculty.

"I think the amount of time will be burdensome," Nozick said, adding, "it's hard to know when we haven't been provided with the barest of figures."

Responding to Nozick and other faculty critics of the legislation. Dean Rosovsky said. "The issue here is really quite simple: Do we or do we not believe in tutorials?

He called the reforms "a step in the right direction."

Bowersock reacted to Faculty opposition to the committees, stating they should only take a few hours of faculty members' time.

A member of the Committee on Graduate Education spoke to the Faculty yesterday, supporting the reforms, but asking the Faculty to amend the legislation to include graduate students on the committees.

"Since graduate students play such a major role in tutorials, it only seems fair that they should be part of the committees," he added.

The Faculty did not respond to his recommendation.

Alan E. Heimert, Cabot Professor of American Literature, supported the legislation and called tutorials "a glorious opportunity."

He added that he hoped the legislation would especially encourage professors to teach sophomore and junior tutorials, the two areas where professors are least involved in now. He added he finds advising senior theses "generally boring."

Several Faculty members had prepared speeches in advance for the South Africa debate. Mendelsohn had also arranged for Donald Woods, Nieman Fellow and exiled South African journalist, to speak before the Faculty.

Dean Rosovsky proposed that the Faculty devote a full meeting to the debate on South African investments later this spring but no date was set