Rosovsky Says Faculty Resists Hiring Women

Dean Rosovsky last night cited departmental resistance as a primary reason for the lack of female professors in a speech before the Radcliffe Alumnae Council.

He said, "personnel changes are in the hands of departments and the departments will have to make the changes themselves."

'Full Consideration'

Rosovsky told the 120 Council members gathered in 17 Quincy St. that he has personally "made many policy statements to departments that qualified women should receive full consideration for tenured faculty positions."

He added that since he had been dean there has been a steady progression toward hiring more females for both tenured and non-tenured positions.

The hiring of women will be a slow process because it involves fundamental changes in the whole educational process, Rosovsky said. He added, "you cannot take an institution that is primarily male and change it overnight."

He said that in the hiring of woman professors the University will have to maintain the standards that have always held for Harvard faculty.

Rosovsky also detailed some of the concerns about undergraduate education in his "Letter to the Faculty" last month.

'Concrete Problem'

He discussed the "concrete problem of improving tutorials, applying new technological developments to teaching, providing incentives for faculty members to teach, and improving contact between professors and undergraduates."

While Rosovsky said he wants to increase faculty-student contact he did not make any specific proposals and said he does not believe in taking faculty away from research to devote more time to teaching. He said, "I do not believe in choosing between researchers and teachers."