Women's Studies Moves A Step Closer

In a move that would formally bring women's studies to Harvard, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences' steering committee has voted to recommend that the full faculty approve the establishment of an honors-only concentration in the field.

The proposal, which the 19-member Faculty Council approved by a one-sided tally of 11-2-3 (with three members absent), will be passed along to the faculty for a vote in the fall. If the propsal is accepted, the concentration will be implemented in 1987-1988.

Many view the council's May 21 vote as the last major hurdle to formal recognition of women's studies as a discipline, and most members of the student-faculty Women's Studies Committee were at least caustiously optimistic.

"I have a great deal of confidence in the good judgment of my colleagues," said committee Chairman Susan R. Suleiman, professor of Romance and comparative literatures. "Given the fact that women's studies is justifiable and intellectually valid, I expect my colleagues will see that," she said.

"There's a growing amount of interest in the field, and it's a small step now--I don't expect it to be traumatic," said Assistant Professor of History Catherine Clinton, a member of the committee.

The proposed honors-only women's studies concentration would offer sophomore and junior tutorials and would require degree candidates to write a senior thesis. As is the case with interdisciplinary majors such as Social Studies and History and Literature, the plan of study would be pieced together from traditional fields of inquiry.

All other lvy League school except Columbia have degree-granting programs in women's studies, as do many other major universities across the country. Rather than offer a concentration, Harvard during the past few years has chosen instead to depend onindividual professors to include gender-relatedcourses in traditional departments.

Undergraduates presently can petition for aspecial concentration in women's studies, but theCollege has approved only one of several suchrequests.

In 1978, the University established the Women'sStudies Committee, an interdisciplinarycoordinating committee that has sought to promotethe development of courses relating to women inculture and society. It has spent the last severalyears searching for a scholar to fill a joint postin women's studies and another field, and anannouncement about an appointment is expectedsoon.

The committee has attempted "to stimulate thedevelopment of courses in women's studies, toencourage faculty members to include the study ofwomen in courses already being offered, and toarrange for visiting lectures in appropriatesubjects."

Since the committee's inception, the number ofwomen-related courses has grown. There are 30courses, some directly and some vaguely related towomen's studies, currently listed under thecommittee's aegis.

The University's resources have also increasednotably since the committee began. The committeesponsors numerous events annually, including theWomen's History Week celebration every March,colloquia on gender, and forums about theseswritten on topics related to women's studies.

In addition, the Divinity and Extension Schoolsboth offer degree programs in women's studies,while four other Harvard faculties have women'sstudies courses open to undergraduates.

Despite such growth, members of the Women'sStudies Committee say a concentration is necessaryto provide the formal structure the disciplinedemands.

"The program will give a kind of structure inwhich the logic of other courses would find aplace. For those students who want to be in aprogram that gives them the tools to deal withcertain basic questions, the concentration isnecessary. For anybody else, the concentrationwill offer an enrichment," Suleiman said