Semester Brings Complaints

Professors teaching spring semester courses said yesterday that the shortened spring semester will force them to alter and add lectures in order to cover necessary material.

An earlier than usual start in September lengthened the fall semester and caused the one-week cutback of spring term classes. Margaret E. Law, registrar of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, said yesterday that students would have had to return for reading period before New Year's Day for the fall term to have remained at its normal 12 weeks.

Most spring courses will have two fewer class meetings than those of the fall term, Law said.

In attempting to fit all course material into the shorter term, several professors said they have introduced subject matter in early lectures and sections more rapidly, than they otherwise would have.

"It's hard on the students and the teaching staff," M.J. Peterson, assistant professor of Government, who teaches Historical Study A-12, said yesterday. "We're launching the course seriously when the students are still shopping around." Sections for the course held their first meeting on Wednesday.

Wallace T. MacCaffrey, chairman of the History Department said yesterday that he needs 12 weeks to teach his courses. He predicted that his lectures this semester will continue into reading period. "This is really an annoyance," he said, adding "I wish we could avoid it in the future."

Sheldon H. White, professor of Psychology, said yesterday he had to completely overhaul the lecture and reading schedule for Psychology and Social Relations 1, the concentration's introductory course. "I feel like I've lost some things that I won't be able to replace," he added, saying that he hopes that semesters will be "more even" in the future.

Several professors said yesterday that Arts 175a, "American Architecture from the Civil War to Present," during the Fine Arts, said yesterday that he will be able to cover all of the material for Fine Arts 175a, American Architecture from the Civil War to Present, during the semester. But he said that he might add two or more Friday lectures to the course, which meets only on Mondays and Wednesdays.

James Q. Wilson, Shattuck Professor of Government, said yesterday that most Courses will benefit from the shorter term, "Both teachers and students tend to run out of gas in the last few weeks, anyway." He added that dropping two lectures from each of his courses will not hurt his presentation of material.

The semesters will work out to a "more normal schedule" next year and in following years, Law said. "This was the most reasonable way to work it this year," she added.