CUE Suggests Elimination Of Interdisciplinary Group

The Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) recommended in a report to Dean Rosovsky yesterday that the Faculty eliminate the interdisciplinary Committee on International Studies as soon as its programs can be transferred to another branch of the University.

The programs--which include advising undergraduates, publishing a list of courses related to international affairs, maintaining a computerized list of students interested in the field, and distributing a bi-monthly newsletter--are "extremely useful to many students and should definitely be continued," George C. Homans '32, associate dean of the Faculty for Undergraduate Education and author of the report, said yesterday.

The Faculty created the committee in 1976 as an interdisciplinary coordinating group that does not offer courses or degrees. A staff of six part-time undergraduates and two graduate students runs the international studies programs under the supervision of the Faculty committee.

Although the ten-member committee nominally supervises the staff, "the truth is that they are fully independent, and the professors on the committee haven't met in more than a year so it's not necessary," Homans added.

Hands Off

Nathan Keyfitz, Andelot Professor of Sociology and chairman of the committee, said yesterday he agreed with CUE's recommendation. "Some very important work is going on under the auspices of the committee, but the committee doesn't have much to do with it," he added.

Dissolving the committee "would be a reasonable bit of administrative streamlining if another part of the University will supervise the current activities and if funding will continue," Keyfitz said.

The committee's programs receive about $10,000 annually, half from the president's discretionary "venture" fund and half from an anonymous donor. Since the "venture" fund is meant for only new projects, other sources of funding should be found, Homans said.

The CUE report states that the Center for International Affairs (CfIA) is willing to supervise the committee's staff and programs on a one-year trial basis but is unable to fund them. The report also says the programs could be linked to the Kennedy School of Government, although no formal inquiries have been made into that possibility.

Grant T. Hammond '66, executive director of the CfIA, said last week the committee staff "cannot stand alone given the bureaucratic superstructure of the University, and since we think what they do is a legitimate and necessary activity, we would be happy to have them as a quasi-independent agency of CfIA."

Cheryl Hollmann Keen, a graduate student at the School of Education and co-director of the staff, said yesterday the committee staff is willing to work at CfIA. "The main potential drawback of eliminating the Faculty committee is that we would have to change our name and might lose our page in the course catalog," she added.

The professors on the committee have not been actively involved with its programs for two years, Keen said. The committee began in 1974 as the ad hoo committee on Peace and Conflict Studies and has been listed in the undergraduate course catalog since it became a standing committee in 1976.

The committee's Faculty and staff have created several courses including Social Sciences 13, "Problems of Peace, Justice and the Processes of Change," Social Sciences 174, "Coping with International Conflict," and courses at the School of Education and the Law School.

"For several years, the Faculty were active and our activities were expanding, but now the budget is tight and we can only maintain our current programs," Keen said, adding, "We will gladly switch to the CfIA--the only hitch is, where is the money going to come from?