Rosovsky Will Not Initiate Discussion of ROTC Issue

Dean Rosovsky last week said he has many immediate issues more important than ROTC to deal with this year.

"Literally no one has talked to me about it (ROTC)," Rosovsky said, nothing that neither the Faculty nor the Faculty Council have a discussion of ROTC on their agenda.

Rosovsky said in a wide-ranging interview Friday that he would not initiate discussion of ROTC, but he reiterated President Bok's Commencement week statement that ROTC should be examined on its merits if it were ever discussed.

Rosovsky listed several University issues he considers of prime interest in the coming year.

"The big task for the Faculty this year is to make budget decisions at the margin," he said. Rosovsky, an economist by training, said he thought the Faculty had done little thinking about the interdependent aspects of the University budget.

"There are some dark clouds on the horizon; the main one is inflation" he said. "If the cost of living continues to increase, that will create enormous problems next year, in '73-74."

He said the financial squeeze is giving the University trouble in keeping up with the inflation. Graduate student support is an area of serious concern, Rosovsky said because of rapidly rising costs. He noted that the price of foreign books, for example, is up 30 per cent since last year because of the dollar's devaluation.

On other University issues, the new dean said he had urged President Bok to name a University-wide committee to deal with calendar reform. Rosovsky said he thought MIT as well as other Harvard faculties should be involved in the calendar discussions, possibley leading to a more compatible semester arrangement.

Rosovsky cited undergraduate teaching as a main area for concentrated effort. He said some "research" professors need to be more motivated to teaching, but disclaimed any real dichotomy between research and teaching professors.

One pathway toward a better University would be more flexibility in faculty assignments, he said, though reallocating professorial appointments between fields is a difficult matter.

Rosovsky said there should be no distinction between the University's treatment of men and women. Commenting on the non-merger-merger agreement between Harvard and Radcliffe which is due to expire in 1974, Rosovsky said he would be very surprised if a new agreement included an increase in the size of the College.