Barnes Leaves Law School To Work on L.A. Studies

Dean William S. Barnes will resign as Assistant Dean at the Law School to concentrate on Latin American studies at Harvard and at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the CRIMSON learned last night. Barnes has held his Law School position since 1955.

Barnes has been asked by President Pusey and Dean Ford to remain for at least one more year as Director of Inter-American Studies, a post from which he coordinates work on Latin America throughout the University.

He will also continue indefinitely as Professor of Latin American Affairs at Fletcher, where the teaches courses on inter-American relations and on development policies for the southern continent.

From his positions at both Fletcher and Harvard, Barnes has been working on a draft program to be discussed by the University-wide committee on Latin American studies at its year-end meeting in June.

The program suggests a cooperative effort in which a number of New England college and universities would pool their scattered specialists on Latin America to create a research center that all participants could draw from.

"There are several alternative directions for Harvard," Barnes said. "as a big university, it can move ahead on its own. But I think one of the possibilities we should consider is a cooperative effort of this kind."

'Obvious Need'

"There is an obvious need for materials to be made available in published form on specific Latin American topics," his proposal reads. "It should be possible to consolidate research work on Latin-American studies so that those working in the field would be in touch with each other and could take advantage of the considerable body of knowledge...in the New England area."

A New England Center of Inter-American Affairs might also greatly expand the present Harvard program which sends interested students to Latin America for the summer. It could also sponsor intensive summer courses on inter-American affairs.

But "the basic thrust of the proposal," according to Barnes, would be the development of needed research and teaching materials. "This would include providing tutors for graduate students working on a specialized subject in Latin American affairs," Barnes said.