Faculty Will Continue Freshman Seminar Plan

The Faculty voted unanimously yesterday to approve the report of the Conway committee recommending the continuance of the freshman seminar program.

A more detailed consideration of the role of the program in a Harvard undergraduate education will await the report of the Doty Committee to review the Program of General Education, since the Faculty yesterday requested the Doty committee to consider the relation of freshman seminars to the General Education program.

In addition, an amendment to the recommendations approved yesterday postponed permanent supervision of the seminars by a standing committee of the Faculty until the Doty committee has presented its report. Both the committee to review General Education and the Committee on Educational Policy agreed with this decision, Dean Ford stated.

He added that until the Doty committee makes its recommendations, the seminars will be supervised by a special committee which he will appoint in the next two weeks.

Discussion at yesterday's meeting centered around the relation of the seminars to General Education, and their importance as a commitment of faculty teaching resources.

One senior Faculty member cautioned that too great an investment of Faculty resources in the freshman seminar program might keep Faculty members from giving all the attention they should to the General Education program.

The question of how much time faculty members put into the freshman seminar program was raised by William N. Lipscomb Jr., professor of Chemistry. Lipscomb said last night that the Conway committee had not considered--"as indeed it was not supposed to"--whether there were alternatives to freshman seminars which could more profitably employ the time of faculty members.

Improving Lecture System

Reuben A. Brower, professor of English and Master of Adams House, voiced his approval of the seminar program at the meeting, but said it was not a solution to the important problem of improving the large lecture courses at the College. Brower said last night that he had been particularly interested in the criticisms of large courses which were contained in the report of the Conway committee, and expressed the hope that "the same amount of money and time and thought which went into the seminar program will be put to use improving the educational experience of students in the large courses."