Elder Says GSAS Plans Require 'New Thinking'

Tuesday's defeat by the Faculty of Dean Elder's proposals for graduate education will necessitate much time and "new thinking" on the part of the Administrative Board of the University, Elder said yesterday.

At the same time, three Department heads indicated that graduate degrees should be speeded up--if at all--not by a vote of the Faculty, but by individual departments, thus enabling the departments to consider special conditions and exceptions.

Elder admitted that his proposals had suffered "a pretty resounding defeat," and that the Board would have to "again ask ourselves what it the Ph.D." The Board members would have to determine, among other things, whether the degree is and should be "a teaching degree or a research degree."

Their decision would partially determine the place in the Ph.D. program of the thesis, the writing of which is mainly responsible for the lengthy residence of some graduate students. Myron P. Gilmore, chairman of the History Department, urged an examination of the problem "at the level of departments," from which might come a concept of the thesis "not as a book, but as an example of research."

This suggestion did not meet with approval from Walter J. Rate '39, chairman of the English Department, who said his department was considering no further action. Its graduate revisions last March set "a stiff, rapid pace" for the degree, and "anticipated" the Dean's proposals.

Harris Concurs

Seymour E. Harris '20, chairman of the Economics Department, said his department also had no plans to reconsider additional measures, and, in fact, stated his belief that "a great many graduate students who stay around for a long time get a great deal out of it." He proposed an increased concentration on the M.A. in order to "produce needed teachers for junior colleges," and asserted that the greatest need of the GSAS was refusing to admit second-rate students, who at present constitute "about 25 per cent" of the enrollment.