Few Concentrators in Soc Stud Are Submitting Senior Theses

Almost half of the seniors majoring in Social Studies this year are not writing theses, the head tutor of the department said yesterday

Katherine Auspitz, assistant professor and head tutor of Social Studies, said that 32 of the 55 students in Social Studies are currently writing senior theses.

Social Studies is an interdisciplinary honors major which requires students to write theses. Social Studies concentrators who decline to do so receive a degree in General Studies.

Social Fact

"This is not so much an academic problem as a social fact." Auspitz said. She said that the decrease in students going on to graduate schools has resulted in fewer students writing theses "for their vocational future."

"With many more people going to law and medical school, they just don't want to do a big academic project," she said.

Auspitz said that there is a shortage of tutors for Social Studies, making it difficult for students to find thesis advisers.

She said that there is a shortage of tutors for Social Studies, making it difficult for students to find thesis advisers.

She said Social Studies committee members will be asked to serve as theses advisers next year to alleviate the problem.

"We want every senior to have a tutor inside the department who will meet with him regularly." she said.

Down to the Wire

Most Social Studies concentrators who are not doing theses made their decision by the end of the first term this year. Auspitz said, adding that "only a few came right down to the wire and dropped it."

Almost all Soc Stud concentrators have written theses sine the program's inception in 1963, Auspitz said.

"I feel that a thesis is an important culmination of the liberal arts experience," the said.

David Rosenberg '75 said yesterday that the department makes it difficult to get advice and help. They don't make restrictions, but they are not very helpful with advice unless they are cornered."

Social Students, administered by a committee which recommends students for degrees but offers no departmental courses, every year accepts a limited number of a applicants.