K-School, GSD Faculty Debate Merger

Most faculty members in the Graduate School of Design (GSD) and the Kennedy School of Government tentatively approve of President Bok's proposal to transfer the GSD's Department of City and Regional Planning (CRP) to the K-School.

"The logic of the proposition--if one thinks of the University and the longer run--is unassailable," Graham T. Allison Jr. '62, dean of the K-School, said yesterday.

Peter E. Walker, professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Design, said Tuesday he is pleased because the proposal will allow the GSD to stress physical planning and design.

Bok also proposed a new urban planning program which will join separate programs at the GSD. The new program will include physical planning, regional and natural resources studies and the current Urban Design program.

"The new arrangement gives us a chance to expand what we're doing," Walker said.

Francois C.D. Vigier, professor of City Planning and Urban Design and former chairman of the CRP program, said yesterday Bok's proposal "sets a very healthy move."

Drift

"I'm quite confident the GSD will reassume the interdisciplinary approach it had before," he said, adding he feels the CRP department had drifted away from the other GSD departments.

The transfer still causes anxiety among some faculty, however. "It's not the easiest thing to work with a group of people for so many years in the Design School and develop close working relationships and then have to leave them." John F. Kain, chairman of CRP, said Tuesday.

Helen F. Ladd, assistant professor of City and Regional Planning, said Tuesday she is concerned about the transition from schools. "I'm afraid that we might be swallowed up by the Kennedy School too quickly and lose some valuable aspects of our program," she added.

"With the appointment of (Gerrald M.) McCue as the new dean, we thought there might be substantial changes in City and Regional Planning but we never thought it would have come to this," Harry Lirtzman, a first-year student at the GSD, said Tuesday.

The transfer itself will cause headaches for busy faculty at both schools. The movement of faculty and students, changes in admissions and definitions of areas of concentration are all issues that must be "put on an agenda that is already quite full," Allison said.

He added the K-School may have difficulty assimilating an entire department because it has never before added more than seven new faculty members at a time.

Part of Bok's recommendation--to expand the K-School plant--could begin no sooner than the summer of 1981, Allison estimated. He added that construction could not begin until the school raises funds for additions.

If Bok decides to implement his proposal, the CRP will become a K-School program on July 1, 1980. The entire transfer will take from three to five years.

After consulting with faculty members in both schools. Bok is likely to approve the program. Allison said. "Only a mistake on the merits of the proposal would lead him to not proceed. Arguments that we are overloaded and cannot handle further administrative problems will not lead to a new conclusion," he added.

Bok, who was unavailable for comment yesterday, first discussed the merger several weeks ago with Allison and GSD deans, Allison said.

Richard Jaffeson, professional development coordinator of the American Planning Association (APA), said yesterday he does not believe the merger is related to the APA's decision last month to renew its recognition of the CRP.

The APA had withdrawn recognition of the program after an APA committee reported that the CRP was not oriented enough toward planning.

Both Jaffeson and Allison said they do not yet know how the merger will affect accreditation of the program