Grinding, But Not for a Degree

Each year a transient group of students, under 100 in number, come to the University to take whatever courses they wish to attend. None of those in the group are working for degrees. They are all past College age and fall into the very limited category known as Special Students. Eight of this year's exclusively male list are graduates of the College fulfilling prerequisites for admission to graduate schools; ten are holders of miscellaneous fellowships, two are Corporation appointees teaching in one faculty while studying in Arts and Sciences; and the remaining four are private scholars.

These 39 students study under the direction of Carroll F. Miles, appointed Dean of Special Students last year. "I have to approve all their programs," he comments; "and they certainly have some weired ones." One foreign student, for instance, is taking courses in four different departments since he wants to get as broad an education as possible before returning to his own country. The 14 foreign scholars form the largest single bloc this year in the Special Student category.

The University established the Office of Special Students in 1916 to permit "serious students beyond the normal college age" to take courses, for a period not over a year, without working toward any degrees. Aside from the Dean, these is also an Administrative Board to watch over those accepted for the program. Competition for the very limited enrollment in the department is so keen that usually not even the top scholars from other colleges are considered for eligibility. This is a recent development, however, indicative of the administrations desire to cut down on the number participating in the program. There were considerably more than double the number of students at present three years ago.

"Admission of Special Students is always a problem," Dean Miles observed in an interview at his out-of-the-way third-floor office in Farnsworth House. He mentioned the application of a graduate with insufficiently high marks who wanted to be a philosopher as typical of the matters he had to handle. "The lady who wrote this note thought he was deserving because he had been in the Army." Miles said. "The answer was 'no'," he added.

Prospective Special Students and auditors must first apply to the Dean who then refers their cases to the departments in which they intend to study. When admitted, they get the same status as other students under the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, but remain under Miles's authority.

Miles combines the duties of Dean of Special Students and Counsellor of Foreign Students. He is also Allston Burr Senior Tutor in Dunster House and a lecturer in Government. His assistant in the Special Student office is Miss Phyllis Henry, who, according to Miles, "knows everything about our problems here." Before 1916, any students who were not working toward degrees were handled by the college, but since then, and especially since World War II, increased enrollment of foreign students has increased the importance of the office.

Richard E. Beinhorn from the University of Freiburg, Germany, and Jorgen S. Jensen from the University of Copenhagen are two of the visitors in this year's program. Beinhorn is a Fulbright scholar, While Jensen came to the United States with the aid of a grant from the Institute of International Education. Both intend to write their doctorate theses on American subjects.

Beinhorn's interest lies in American history. Hearing authorities on American history and checking through some of the available reference material are of "immense help," he says, in the preparation of his Ph.D. thesis on the European view of the American revolution. Beinhorn maintains that it is a misconception to think there is anything "special" about Special Students, except that they have future scholastic plans at other universities.

The view that Special Students are unique only because of the short duration of their staw was repeated by Jensen, who came to the United States to stury American literature. He plans to write on the subject of utopianism in American literature, when he goes back to Copenhagen. He would like to extend his first trip to the United States by another year, he says, but fears that cuts in government grants-in-aid in the near future will make this plan impossible. Reinhorn and Jensen both say they were surprised and satisfied to have been picked for Harvard out of all the colleges in the United States.

Salvator Arnita, who heads the music department at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, is one student who considers his own situation a special case. An organist and composer who has previously made several European trips, Arnita hopes to pick up additional experience by auditing the courses of several music professors.

Although the backgrounds and future plans of those in the Special Student program may vary greatly, all of the scholars have one desire in common--to extend the limits of their knowledge. The one year they are allowed to spend at the University in the special program is not a great deal of time, but most of them consider it long enough to make some real accomplishment in special fields possible. And as Miles maintains, "one of the functions of the Special Students program is to prevent individuals from studying aimlessly at Harvard just because they like the Cambridge atmosphere."