Freshmen, Sophomores Gain New Life in Lit. & Arts B-16

More than 300 freshmen and sophomores who were yesterday excluded from Literature and Arts B-16, "Abstraction in Modern Art," will have another chance to gain enrollment in the course.

Associate Professor of Fine Arts Diane W. Upright, who is teaching the class which attracted twice as many students as it can accommodate, yesterday announced at the 1 p.m. lecture that only juniors and seniors could enroll.

But Upright said late yesterday afternoon that the Core officials--responding to student complaints--informed her that she could only use a proportional lottery system to thin the course size. "I made an error in innocence," Upright said.

The lottery will admit students in proportion to the percentage of applicants from each class.

Upright said that students interested in entering the lottery should attend lecture tomorrow.

Because study cards are due on Friday, officials said that students who put the course on their schedule will not have to pay a fine to change their schedule if they do not gain entrance via the lottery.

Policy Review

Edward T. Wilcox, director of the Core program, said yesterday that widespread problems with overcrowding in Core courses has prompted Core officials to begin developing a uniform enrollment policy, probably for next year.

"We are running grievously over enrollment," he said. "We are trying to redesign policy."

Other Core courses have dealt with over-crowding in different ways, leading to complaints that enrollment policy is arbitrary. Science B-15, "Evolutionary Biology," has, for example, in the past three years excluded sophomores because of over crowding. But that course's professor, Baird Professor of Science E.O. Wilson, said yesterday that "I'm not aware of any policy requiring a lottery system"

But Stone-Redcliffe Professor Emily D. Verrneule who teaches Lit and Arts B-22, "Ancient and Classical Painting," said she limited her course last fall by a proportional lottery following the recommendation of the Core Office

"A great many of people are acting out of ignorance," she said