History Department Study To Come Out This Month

A History student-faculty committee which has been discussing the grievances of History graduate students since mid-December, will present its findings to the History senior Faculty some time next month.

Giles Constable '50, Henry Charles Lea Professor of Medieval History and chairman of the committee, said the committee's recommendations will cover at least the following questions:

* The entire program of graduate education in History, including courses, theses, degree requirements;

* Scholarships to History graduate students;

* Teaching opportunities for graduate students;

* Teacher training within the Department.

Entire Spectrum

"We're not just trying to tinker with the present system," Constable said, "but we're trying to examine the entire spectrum of possibilities for change." He said that the committee has not yet come to any firm decisions on specific changes.

Ever since man first began to regard himself as an historical animal, he has suffered a consciousness of the geometrically progressive diminution in his role as a creator. The pre-Socratic philosophers, as Peter Smart has pointed out, had no sense of history and were in immediate contact with their gods at all times. The study of history has served to obscure this relationship. --Ed.

John Womack Jr. '59, assistant professor of History and a member of the committee, said, "We've come a long way from mid-December. Back then, we were in a very tense situation between students and Faculty. Nobody is pressing demands or negotiating now."

"We're all agreed on one thing," Womack continued. "We have no intention of relaxing any departmental standards for anybody. Right now, we're trying to broaden the range of alternatives by which students can meet those standards," he added.

The committee was formed in December after graduate students in history presented the department with a list of grievances.