PBK Projects Advice Center For Freshmen

The Phi Beta Kappa Society has offered to set up a system of supplementary freshman advising to be run by upperclassmen, Roy F. Gootenberg '49, secretary of the group announced last night.

In addition, the Society will assist the faculty committee investigating advising in any way desired, Gootenberg added.

These two measures are part of a program of revived activity planned by Phi Beta Kappa. The group also intends to revive its custom of annually publishing a specially chosen honors thesis, he stated.

Back in the twenties, PBK ran both a special advising service and a tutoring school for students in academic embarrassment, Gootenberg explained. The tutoring service will not be revived, however, he said, because the Bureau of Study Counsel now performs that job adequately.

No decision has yet been made as to who will do the actual advising, Gootenberg stated, but probably the task will be handled by interested PBK men plus honors students. Such topics as fields of concentration, choice of courses, and adequate preparation for graduate schools would be among the subjects discussed.

There are many matters on which PBK men would be entirely unsuited to advise, Gootenberg admitted, but "upperclassmen know more about Harvard than the average freshman adviser, and are more familiar with the requirements of different fields of concentration," he explained.