CUE to Consider Exams, Academic Counseling

Exams before Christmas break and improved academic counseling are among the issues that the student-faculty Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) will tackle this spring, the committee's members agreed yesterday at the first meeting of the semester.

"I am flabbergasted that the faculty doesn't have much to do with [academic counseling]," said CUE Chairman Steven E. Ozment, associate dean for undergraduate education. He said he wants to use the CUE "as a platform to dramatize" the deficiencies in counseling for undergraduates on academic issues.

Though the committee agreed to discuss the possibility of holding exams before winter break, there was no discussion of the subject yesterday.

The committee's other plans for the spring include:

.an examination of small-group education beyond the tutorial. Ozment said he wants to discover the extent to which small, faculty-taught courses exist and if there are too many Core courses that also fulfill concentration requirements. "Is the Core and your tutorial pretty much it as far as education these days?" Ozment asked the seven committee members present.

.the allocation of $50,000 in funds for special academic programs, including a "brainstorming session" to determine what kinds of special programs will be offered within various concentrations.

.an exploration of the quality of house tutors and how they are selected.

The committee, which will set the editorial policy of the CUE course evaluation guide with the student editors, also agreed to send away for course evaluation guides from other colleges that use only statistical data in their presentations. Although next year's CUE guide will not be affected, the move raises the possibility that future guides may depart from the present essay-statistic format. This issue was not discussed any further, however.