Faculty Says No Room For Bowles

Members of the Economic Department's graduate student association voiced opposition this week to the decision of the Department's senior Faculty not to recommend tenure for radical economist Samuel S. Bowles, associate professor of Economics.

About 50 graduate students--almost a third of the Department's total--attended the Graduate Economics Club meeting Wednesday to discuss their reactions to the Bowles decision, made a week and a half ago.

The group passed a resolution condemning the Department's decision to "fire" Bowles, demanded that the Department commit itself to teaching radical economics, and called a student-Faculty meeting of the Department for Monday afternoon to discuss the Bowles case.

Before deciding what action to take, the students voted to accept an offer made by James S. Dusenberry, chairman of the Department, to appear before the group to discuss his and his colleagues' decision.

Dusenberry said the decision did not mean the Department doesn't think well of Bowles's abilities. "We do in fact," he said.

But he said that Bowles did not meet the test which in theory is applied to Faculty appointments in every field--the test of being "the best possible appointment" the Department can recommend after considering every potentially available person in the field.

Asked how student support for Bowles had affected the decision. Dusenberry replied that it "made us think more times on this (Bowles's qualifications) than we probably otherwise would have."