English Faculty Makes Major More Flexible

The English Department has created two specialized limited enrollment programs in addition to the regular English concentration.

One option will emphasize a genre or comparative literature approach; the other will stress creative writing. The two programs go into effect in September 1971.

The department's Committee on Undergraduate Curriculum, which recommended the new programs, also suggested that the number of courses required for concentration be reduced from eight to seven that Junior Generals be eliminated, that students fulfill the Shakespeare requirement with course work or an examination, and that the first semester of senior tutorial be devoted to the senior thesis and the second semester to preparation for Senior Generals.

The department approved the two new programs yesterday but has not taken final action on the committee's additional suggestions.

Non-Professionals

The new programs will fulfill the need for a flexible concentration which is not geared to preparation for graduate school. According to the committee report, 80 per cent of English concentrators "have no professional involvement with the teaching or study of literature after graduation."

However, the committee advised prospective English graduate school students to choose either the first or second option rather than creative writing.

A Little Bit of Guidance

"The department recognizes that there are English concentrators who combine a straight English concentration with writing or foreign literature courses," Robert J. Kiely, professor of English and chairman of the committee, said yesterday. "We are now attempting to provide guidance for them instead of just letting them piece things together for themselves," he added.

Students choosing the second option will create their won field of study such as comedy, the novel, Romanticism, or modern French and English literature. The third option will require work in creative writing during the sophomore, junior, and senior years.

English 100-Reform Looms

English 100 will be required for all three divisions, although the committee recommended that the department consider changing English 100 in 1972-73. Suggestions ranged from teachingthe course entirely in sections requiring an extra semester devoted exclusively to American literature.

Morton W. Bloomfield, chairman of the department, said that other curriculum changes include several middle group Shakespeare courses in addition to English 120.

The Committee on Undergraduate Curriculum-which has eight faculty members, one teaching fellow, and three undergraduates-has consulted 30 to 40 per cent of English undergraduate concentrators since it began meeting last spring, Kiely said.

During the past year, Yale, Stanford, and the University of California at Los Angeles have created options similar to those approved by the Harvard English Department.