EUROPEAN STUDY

Every spring there appears on the bulletin boards of University Hall numbers of flamboyant posters proclaiming the joys of education in European universities. They cannot, however, be viewed as anything but a piece of coy irony on the part of the Dean's Office, for the general policy of the august personages therein enshrined has been to surround the transferral of credits from a foreign university with the vast, impenetrable, hyperborean mists of University red tape.

The main grievance against University Hall in this matter is the complete and utter lack of any definitely formulated policy. The unwary student planning a year in a Continental school, who consults with the authorities in the hope of arranging his program abroad to suit them, finds that he is met with nothing but evasion and temporizing. It is quite impossible for him to ascertain what credit he will get for the courses he intends to take; instead he is loftily informed that that is a matter which can be dealt with only after he comes back, when his case will be considered. Upon his return he is somewhat astounded to find his credits unmercifully cut and all his grades lowered by one mark. This is the subtle fashion in which the University lets it be known that it does not approve of Harvard men spending a year in a foreign school.

There is little or no justification for such a policy, for in some fields, such as modern languages, the advantages to be gained from a year's sojourn in Europe are many and obvious; moreover, unless there should result a hegira to the Continent in large numbers--which would be extremely unlikely--it is difficult to see why the University should object to men financially able in taking advantage of this opportunity. It should abandon its obscurantist tactics and put the transferral of credits on a rational basis, recognizing that for some men a year spent abroad may be of great value. This would make it possible for these men to get credit for an entire year's work in a reputable European school, without going through the hocus-pocus now in vogue.