The Bowersock Appointment

AN IMPORTANT CHANGE in University Hall will take place July 1, as Glen W. Bowersock '57, chairman of the Classics Department, succeeds Francis M. Pipkin as associate dean of the Faculty for undergraduate education. During his three-year appointment Bowersock will closely advise Dean Rosovsky, serve on ad hoc committees for permanent Faculty appointments, and have a major role in shaping and implementing any changes resulting from the University's current review of undergraduate education.

On the surface, Bowersock appears qualified to assume these duties. His students and colleagues say that during his five years as chairman of the Classics Department he has successfully combined the roles of teacher, scholar and administrator. And he has had broad experience with undergraduates as the former chairman of the Committee on Rights and Responsibilities--the student-faculty disciplinary body which he recently called an "anachronism"--and as a current member of the Committee on General Education and the Board of Freshman Advisors.

Bowersock also appears to be properly cautious about the major issue he will immediately face upon assuming his new position--the possible formation of a core curriculum to replace the General Education program. Although he predicts major changes, Bowersock said last week that he is not satisfied with the structure of the core subject areas proposed by the Task Force on the Core Curriculum. Hopefully, he will consider another point--that devising the elaborate structure of disciplines for a core curriculum is not nearly as important as simply providing general introductory courses that students will want to take without being required to do so.

Bowersock also said that if the Faculty moves later this spring to form small committees to investigate the feasibility of a core curriculum in more detail, it would be appropriate to have students on the committees. Such concern for student input is encouraging. In his new job, Bowersock will be chairman of the Committee on Undergraduate Education and thus will serve as a vital channel through which student opinion can be communicated to the Faculty. He will have a continuing responsibility, then, to understand and articulate student views. A final evaluation of his appointment will be based largely on how effectively he fills this role.