Overseers Approve Revised Design For Enlarged Diplomas in English

The Board of Overseers yesterday passed "with no serious objection" a newly designed 11-by-17-inch parchment diploma, printed in English but with a more ornate design than the controversial "modernized" diplomas issued last year.

The new design passed a Faculty vote last Tuesday, with only three dissenting votes.

A decision to reconsider the English diplomas rose out of last spring's meeting of the Overseers. At that time changes sought included: 1) a seal and possibly other decoration on the diploma, 2) a larger format than the design approved last year, which should be 3) wider than it was high.

In the newly approved design (shown above) the text is set in a more ornate type face with unjustified side margins. The Harvard seal is embossed in the lower righthand corner, and a reddish-brown cluster of oak leaves is inset near the left margin.

Members of the Class of '61 may turn in their old diplomas for ones with the new design. The price of this service has not been discussed, but, according to Dean Monro, "my assumption is that there would be no charge."