SFAC Asks Delay In Stipend Cuts

The Student-Faculty Advisory Council yesterday voted, 14-8, to ask the Committee on Admissions and Scholarships not to reduce the scholarship stipend of any student on probation until an SFAC sub-committee can complete a study of probation's relation to financial aid.

Present policies allow the scholarship committee to reduce by up to $500 the stipend of a student whose record is unsatisfactory. The student is then given a loan for the amount of the reduction. Thirteen of the students on probation for the December 12 sit-in at Paine Hall receive scholarships.

The SFAC also unanimously voted to seat a student on Paine Hall pro--Richard E. Hyland '69-3, elected from Dunster House--and decided to request the Faculty to exempt the SFAC from the College rule that a student on probation may not hold "positions of honor and responsibility."

A resolution passed by last year's SFAC asking that the scholarships of students on Paine Hall pro not be reduced was tabled at the last Faculty meeting. Martin H. Peretz, assistant professor of Social Studies, who introduced yesterday's resolution for a general moratorium on scholarship cuts for students on probation, said he thought "it would be a mistake to bring up [to the Faculty] the question of special treatment for Paine Hall."

Peterson Replies

Chase N. Peterson '52, dean of Admissions and Scholarships, said that the scholarships committee would consider the latest SFAC resolution, but indicated that he himself would vote against accepting it. Reducing scholarships was, Peterson said, "only a paper manipulation from scholarship to loan," which could easily be rescinded if the Faculty decided to change its policy on scholarship reduction.

"Believe me, we wouldn't feel upset in the slightest if the Faculty would overturn this," Peterson said. The committee's preliminary study indicated that, of the 13 scholarship students on Paine pro, only five or six would have their scholarships reduced by the full $500, with three or four receiving no reduction at all, and the remainder a cut of less than $500, he said.

Other Business

In other business, the SFAC increased its graduate student membership from six to eight. The College has twelve members on SFAC and Radcliffe has four. Dean Ford had fixed the membership quotas when SFAC was set up in 1967. The graduate membership was boosted to bring it into line with its enrollment relative to that of the College. The 'Cliffe's over-representation was not challenged.