The Strauch Report

Last April, a committee of 10 professors completed the first major study of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) in more than 15 years. Their research revealed a variety of problems at the GSAS and suggested an array of remedies. The committee submitted to the Faculty a 40-page paper known as the Strauch Report, after Leverett Professor of Physics Karl Strauch, who chaired the group. That report's recommendations are summarized below:

1. A modest increase in student enrollment.

Between 1968 and 1979, the number of graduate students entering Harvard declined by 60 percent. Meanwhile, the number of professors teaching in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences rose, from 467 in 1967 to 552 in 1984.

Student enrollments have shown a slight upturn in the past few years, but the student-faculty ratio remains low. Some departments complain that they have too few students to sustain their research and seminars, the Strauch Committee reported. In order to remedy the imbalance, the committee recommended an increase in student admissions.

However, the committee qualified its position, cautioning that some graduate students already receive inadequate attention from the Faculty. The committee also warned that today's scholars face "uncertain employment prospects."

The bottom line lies somewhere in the red: any rise in enrollment would require a larger financial aid budget.

2. Reduced graduate student teaching loads.

The Strauch Committee reported that most students take too long to complete their graduate work, mainly because they are expected to spend large amounts of time teaching undergraduates.

"An overload of teaching can, and frequently does, slow down the completion of the Ph.D. degree excessively," the committee wrote. "The major activities of a graduate student should be scholarship and research, culminating in the writing and completion of the thesis.

"Other activities, such as teaching, should not become the major concern."

Imposing limits on graduate student teaching loads, however, would be an expensive proposition. Students who currently depend on teaching stipends would require additional financial aid. At the same time, the Faculty would be forced to hire more instructors to replace the lost teaching fellows.

3. Student research grants.

High on the Strauch Committee's wish list is a program of grants to support research by graduate students. The committee proposed the establishment of special "Dissertation Development Grants" to support this work by humanities students in particular, who lack alternative funding sources.

The committee called on the University to mount "a major drive" to raise for the program.

That's something that President Bok said this summer he isn't prepared to undertake.

4. Sustained fancial aid.

Unlike the College, the GSAS has no "aid blind" admissions policy. It bases admissions decisions in part on the applicant's financial situation.

In one of its more fiscally conservative moves, the Strauch Committee endorsed the current policy of admitting only students "who will receive or can demonstrate sufficient financial resources."

The committee also endorsed an existing requirement that financial aid applicants disclose their parents' incomes. That requirement met opposition at a spring Faculty meeting, where some professors argued that parents should not be expected to support their children's graduate study.

On the other hand, the Strauch Committee recommended the retention of co-called merit awards designed to lure top students to Harvard. In addition, it urged that the GSAS continue to guarantee support for second-year students at the same level provided in their first year.

The result is a hefty price tag. The Strauch Committee estimated that the GSAS would require a 15 percent real increase in its financial aid budget to maintain its current aid policy--without an increase in the number of students enrolled.

5. Inclusion of graduate students in the Houses.

When it comes to housing and non-academic life, undergraduates and graduate students face a double standard, the Strauch Committee argued. Graduate students are left to fend for themselves, deprived of a residential community.

To make the graduate experience less arduous, the committee recommended that graduate students be affiliated with undergraduate Houses on an experimental, non-residential basis. The committee also called on the University to make more campus housing available to graduate students and to construct additional housing, if possible.

6. Quality control.

Education at the graduate school centers on the individual departments, and the Strauch Committee recommended a variety of measures to ensure quality and consistency across the board.

First, the Committee recommended that the academic dean enlist experts from outside Harvard to review each department's graduate program every six years. Current visiting committees periodically conduct broad studies of each department; the Strauch Committee recommended a separate evaluation system focusing on the graduate programs.

In addition, prompted in part by student complaints, the committee mapped out an improved advising system for use by all departments.