Rosovsky Names Medieval Studies Committee

Dean Rosovsky has named Morton W. Bloomfield, chairman of the Committee on Medieval Studies, to chair a new committee which will examine and improve medieval studies at Harvard.

Rosovsky urged formation of the committee after students last spring complained about the absence of a professor in Norse Studies. Bloomfield's new committee will review all medieval study offerings. The other committee members will be chosen within the next week.

"When the question of Norse Studies was raised last spring, it was quickly seen by the dean and everyone on the faculty of medieval studies courses that the situation concerned medieval studies as a whole," Bloomfield said yesterday.

Future of Medieval Studies

Bloomfield does not feel that the current medieval studies program is inadequate but said many important faculty members have left in the past few years, he added Harvard needs a new plan to insure the future of its medieval studies program.

Medieval studies at Harvard is not a department and offers no degree. The Committee on Medieval Studies, chaired by Bloomfield and John E. Murdoch, professor of the History of Science, was established in 1969 to promote and coordinate medieval studies.

"Harvard has had a tremendous history in medieval studies and has contributed more to the field over the past 100 years than any other university," Bloomfield said. "We foresee a bad situation in five or six years and this is what we are now hoping to avoid."