Senior Advisors Reveal Program for Yard Units

The five freshman senior advisors yesterday revealed their plans for activities organized under the new freshman "House system."

The focus of the program will be a set of informal lectures and seminars held in the unit common rooms. Student suites were converted this fall to provide a center for intellectual and social life in each complex of dorms.

Intended as a supplement to the end-of-year concentration dinners, the discussions will center around various fields of study.

"What we're trying to do with these talks is to give the freshman a practical idea of the field he's interested in," said James H. Case III, senior advisor for Yard East. "It's not the kind of thing you plan far in advance--you get in touch with someone and ask him to tell the students something about his work. We don't even guarantee him an audience."

The talks are not designed for the general interest of everyone in the unit, explained Peter K. Gunness, senior advisor for Yard West.

"We don't want to duplicate course material, but present specialized views to interested students. In this way the freshmen won't have to wait until their junior or senior years to learn about current work in their majors."

Last week, 25 pre-med and biochemistry students from Yard West came to Matthews to hear a research fellow describe his work in microbiology. Over in Yard South, Preston K. Munter, U.H.S. psychiatrist, pointed out the different viewpoints of psychiatrists and clergymen.

Electron Beams and Jazz

On the agenda for future lectures are a Boston publisher, an electron beam researcher, a state department official, a jazz musician, and a local businessman. Dean Monro and Byron Stookey, Jr. '54, associate director of Advanced Standing, have also agreed to speak.

Several informal seminars are taking shape in the units to complement the organized freshman seminar program. Advisors reported the beginnings of a chamber music group, a mathematics society, and a jazz seminar, based largely on student and proctor initiative.

Each unit is electing a social committee which will direct the social events held in both the unit common rooms and the Union. The Union may emerge into greater prominence this year: its third floor and Mirror Room received a face-lifting this summer.