College May Give Credit For Swahili Half-Course

The University may offer Swahili as a half-course for credit this spring, the suggestion of undergraduates concerned with Project Tanganyika and other African programs. Dean Monro said yesterday that there was a good chance the course would gain Faculty and CEP approval, if a Department willing to sponsor it can be found.

He said he had never before heard of a course initiated by undergraduate action. The students, headed by Peter C. Goldmark '62, arranged an independent Swahili course last spring under a Boston University anthropology professor. Financed completely by Project Tanganyika and Crossroads Africa, the course had a single section of about 30 members, meeting twice a week.

Should the proposal for a credit course fail to get the needed approval, the unofficial course would be resumed this spring.

Monro said that besides finding a Department, the other barriers to the new course would be obtaining Faculty personnel and funds. The course has already been discussed with the Department of Linguistics, Goldmark said last night.

Either a Department or a Committee presently sponsors every course given at Harvard.

Last year one girl gained course credit for study of Swahili, but under the same "Independent study" provision which allows credit for Freshman Seminars. Monro said this mechanism was too clumsy for a 30-member course, since in each case approval must come from both the student's Department and his tutor.