Catalogue's Blank Spaces Irk Language Professors

Members of the department of Romance Languages and Literatures are concerned that fewer students than expected may attend opening sessions of classes next week because of an administrative mix-up that led to the omission of professors' names beside more than 50 departmental courses in the course catalogue.

"People have called to ask who'll be teaching our courses." Jules Brody, chairman of the department, said yesterday, adding, "I hope to hell it doesn't [dissuade students from attending] but it certainly could."

Red Tape

Brody, who is in his first year as chairman, said that the catalogue's editors failed to inform him that the deadline for including names in the book falls well before the last day on which departments can formally hire instructors. As a result he did not forward the names of nine professors and instructors in time.

"I assumed that if people were appointed in time to be on the payroll, they'd be put in the catalogue. I was wrong," Brody said, adding that after he became aware of the missing names. "I asked [catalogue officials] why nobody noticed us, and they said that they were too busy, that there are so many departments at Harvard."

But Lolly Ockerstrom Snyder, editor of the catalogue, disagreed yesterday, saying, "I think they were informed--we make it very clear. We simply didn't have the information in time."

She added that mistakes of this kind do not happen very often, particularly "given the size of the catalogue." Because both Brody and his secretary are relatively new to their posts, they may have overlooked the importance of meeting the deadline, Snyder said.

Exclusive

Brody said he considered protesting the exclusion of names to Dean Rosovsky but decided that "what the hell--life is so short. It's a scandalous procedure."

The instructors excluded from the catalogue include one visiting professor of Portuguese, three associate professors, one assistant professor, three instructors, and one preceptor. Nearly all are new employees, Brody said.

The department has tried to minimize the impact of the missing names by sending all concentrators an amended copy of the department's offerings, including the names of professors for all courses.

But Brody predicted that the omission could still cut down on the number of students who take departmental courses as electives.