Council to Ask No Change in Saturday Rule

The Student Council unanimously resolved last night to oppose any change in the present College policy in regard to Saturday class attendance.

The group approved a report submitted by Gerald A. Wolff '55 and Roger C. Cohen '55, co-chairmen of its committee on Saturday Attendance, calling for concrete steps to be taken to insure faculty and administration consideration of the student body's stand in the matter.

Clifford L. Alexander '55, president, announced after the meeting that Council officers will meet with Deans Bundy and Leighton as soon as possible in order to clarify the Council's position on Saturday attendance.

Wolff and Cohen told the Council that so far their meetings with Bundy and Leighton had shown "a trend on the part of Dean Leighton and Dean Bundy towards stricter administrative supervision." Both Deans, according to Wolff and Cohen, were "necessarily vague and inconclusive due to their lack of concrete information on the situation."

Faculty Poll

The Council's recommendation came as the result of a poll taken by Wolff and Cohen last week. The poll tried to ascertain the actual extent of student class-cutting on Saturdays.

On April 13, Edwin C. Kemble, professor of Physics, had proposed at a meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences that an investigation be made of what he called "the alarming attendance situation at Saturday classes." Accordingly, the faculty's Committee on Educational Policy has also been reviewing the question.

The investigation and polls taken by Wolff and Cohen of the student body, the faculty, and administration have revealed, however, that only 30 percent of the student body has cut more than two Saturday classes during the past six weeks. Another 30 percent of the 2,300 who answered reported that they have taken no cuts at all during the same period.

The poll showed a direct correlation between low grades and excessive cutting of classes.

According to Cohen and Wolff, a statement by Kenneth B. Murdock, professor of English, was typical of the faculty response. Murdock commented, "The question of student cutting on Saturdays or any other day seems to me to involve the responsibility of the student rather than the instructor. If a student feels that he can afford to cut without damage to his grade, he may take the risk."