Faculty Continues Reorganization, Accepts More Fainsod Proposals

Almost one year after it began a study of its own procedures, the Faculty neared completion of the project yesterday by approving another set of proposals from the Fainsod committee.

Yesterday's meeting covered most of the remaining items in the Fainsod Report on Faculty organization. In two major votes, the Faculty decided to create four new student-Faculty committees, and to set a timetable for elections to the new Faculty Council.

In another vote, inserted as a rider to one of the Fainsod proposals, the Faculty gave each House Committee the power to set parietal hours for its House.

The main legislative item at the meeting was the creation of the four new committees. As proposed in the Fainsod Report and approved by the Faculty, they are:

an Undergraduate Education Committee-to 'consider and initiate studies and proposals to improve the quality of education in Harvard College," and serve as a liaison between students and the deans. Fire undergraduate will serve on the committee, along with five Faculty members. The dean of the Faculty will be chairman, and the dean of the College vice-chairman;

a Committee on Graduate Education-to deal with issues that concern the whole Graduate School of Arts and Sciences instead of purely departmental matters. The committee will be made up of five GSAS students-at least two of them teaching fellows-and five Faculty members. The dean of the Faculty will be ex officio chairman of this committee as well, with the dean of GSAS serving as vice-chairman;

a Committee on Students and Community Relations-to handle "subjects of student concern involving the relations of the Faculty... to the community and government." Nine Faculty members will be on the committee, along with 11 students-five Harvard undergraduates, one freshman, two Radcliffe students, and three from the GSAS. The dean of the Faculty will also chair this committee, with one Faculty member of the committee as vice-chairman;

a Committee on Houses and Undergraduate Life-to serve much the same function as the present Committee on Houses in regulating extracurricular life. The present members of the Committee on Houses-the Masters and various administrators-will make up this committee, along with 11 students-one from each House and from the freshman class.

The only debate on the committee plan centered on the system for choosing the student members. The Fainsod Report suggested a process of indirect election, by which the Harvard-Radcliffe Policy Committee would select student members for the Committee on Undergraduate Education, and the Haryard Undergraduate Council would choose students for the Committee on House and Undergraduate Life.

At the request of several students, John T. Edsall '23, professor of Biological Chemistry, offered an amendment to have all the students elected directly by their Houses. After hearing two students-Kirby C. Wilcox '70 and Richard W. Hausler '72-say that the vote would make the committee members "directly responsible to their constituents," the Faculty approved the amendment.

Under the amended plan, delegates from the Houses will fill the committee seats in rotation. Over a ten-year period, each House will have five years on the Committee on Undergraduate Education, three years on the Committee on Students and Community Relations, and two years without a representative on either committee.

While the Faculty was working on this motion, Alan Heimert '49, Master of Eliot House, introduced the parietals amendment. "We should not be in the business of regulating hours for lady guests," he said, and urged the Faculty to delegate the power to the Houses.

In the debate that followed, several Faculty members complained that the issue was too important to consider hastily.

But Bruce Chalmers. Master of Winthrop House, said that the vote would help "bring rules into line with practice." Lance C. Buhl, Senior Tutor in Winthrop House, added that Radcliffe dormitories had used the same system "without any great confusion." On a voice vote, the amendment passed.

Earlier in the meeting, the Faculty heard a report from the committee appointed last month to devise a system of elections for the new Faculty Council.

The Council-approved by the Faculty in November-is one of the main features of the Fainsod recommendations. Its eighteen members will serve as a "combined dean's cabinet and steering committee of the Faculty," as well as sitting on three of the four new committees.

Kenneth J. Arrow, professor of Economics, said that the Council elections will be finished by the first week in February. Voting will be on a proportional representation system, with nomination forms going out this week and balloting running through the last two weeks of January.

The last item in the Fainsod Report-dealing with the Faculty's relation to the Governing Boards and to other faculties-came up briefly near the end of yesterday's meeting, but the Faculty adjourned without taking action. The motion will come up at the Faculty's next meeting on Feb. 10.