TFs Will Be Tested On Spoken English

The Faculty Council yesterday voted to institute a language competency test for graduate students who are non-native English speakers before they are allowed to become Teaching Fellows or Teaching Assistants in the College.

Dean for Undergraduate Education Lawrence Buell said the process of developing an "oral competency test" will begin this summer with examinations of other institutions' policies on the issue.

"My expectation would be that it would take effect in the fall of 1994," he said, but he added that not "every single person from a foreign country where the principal language is not English need to be tested in a formal or elaborate way."

Buell said many of the poor ratings of sections evaluated for the Committee on Undergraduate Education are partially a result of language comprehension difficulties.

But part of the question, Buell said, echoing comments earlier this year by Bok Center Director James D. Wilkinson '65, might be the close-mindedness of some undergraduates.

"I believe part of the issue is the ethnocentricity of a certain number of students," he said.

In other business, the council yesterday endorsed a follow-up study to the 1991 Grosz report on women in the sciences at Harvard. The study concluded that two years later issues of peer harassment and differential treatment still trouble some women graduate students.

"I think we're just seeing the beginnings of change and improve- ment," said Professor of Chemistry Cynthia Friend, who chairs the standing committee on the status of women. "Not as much has changed as we would have liked."

The follow-up, which was based on interviews of female graduate students, found that "peer harassment was the single greatest difficulty facing women graduate students," along with a dearth of female faculty and role models.

"Examples of peer harassment included display of inappropriate posters of women, perceptions of inferiority or advantage of women due to affirmative action, crude remarks and exclusion from group activities," the study reported.

Although some of the Grosz recommendations were implemented and viewed positively, including weekly meetings with Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dean for Student Affairs Margot N. Gill, women were not aware of other changes since the 1991 report.

"Most [women] were unaware of the escort services and the 'home run' shuttle service," the study says, and "some students found the...charge for the shuttle a financial burden."

The study recommends "increasing the number of women students in graduate programs that have a traditionally small number" and "facilitating social interaction among students."

The study also suggests more stress on and understanding of the importance of gender issues by professors and departments and calls for an "increase in the number of role models" through women colloquium speakers and recruiting female professors.

The Faculty Council also discussed recently released statistics on admissions at the GSAS, which has become increasingly competitive in the last few years.

So far this year, the Graduate School has a 14 percent acceptance rate, down from 15 percent last year and admissions rates around 20 percent in the 1980s. Admissions data for this year are not complete, as not all decisions have yet been made.

GSAS statistics reveal progress in the effort to diversify the student body. Enrollments for underrepresented minorities have increased every year since 1979. The number of Asian American students and some Latino groups are not tracked.

In 1992, 36 Black, 11 Chicano, 13 Puerto Rican and six Native American students were enrolled

The follow-up, which was based on interviews of female graduate students, found that "peer harassment was the single greatest difficulty facing women graduate students," along with a dearth of female faculty and role models.

"Examples of peer harassment included display of inappropriate posters of women, perceptions of inferiority or advantage of women due to affirmative action, crude remarks and exclusion from group activities," the study reported.

Although some of the Grosz recommendations were implemented and viewed positively, including weekly meetings with Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dean for Student Affairs Margot N. Gill, women were not aware of other changes since the 1991 report.

"Most [women] were unaware of the escort services and the 'home run' shuttle service," the study says, and "some students found the...charge for the shuttle a financial burden."

The study recommends "increasing the number of women students in graduate programs that have a traditionally small number" and "facilitating social interaction among students."

The study also suggests more stress on and understanding of the importance of gender issues by professors and departments and calls for an "increase in the number of role models" through women colloquium speakers and recruiting female professors.

The Faculty Council also discussed recently released statistics on admissions at the GSAS, which has become increasingly competitive in the last few years.

So far this year, the Graduate School has a 14 percent acceptance rate, down from 15 percent last year and admissions rates around 20 percent in the 1980s. Admissions data for this year are not complete, as not all decisions have yet been made.

GSAS statistics reveal progress in the effort to diversify the student body. Enrollments for underrepresented minorities have increased every year since 1979. The number of Asian American students and some Latino groups are not tracked.

In 1992, 36 Black, 11 Chicano, 13 Puerto Rican and six Native American students were enrolled