Tutorial Crunch

An unusually large number of juniors enrolling in History tutorials this semester has left the department scrambling to find extra tutors and caused conclusion in class assignments.

An increase in the number of students pursuing honors and in those studying American history has caused the crunch in History 98, which is required of honors candidates, the department's head tutor, Professor Charles S. Mater, said yesterday.

The tutorial assignments of about 25 juniors caused confusion, but now there are only a few students left to places, said once tutor who asked to remain anonymous.

Accommodating concentrators became a problem when many more students than the department had expected opted for the honors program, department members said.

Oversubscription is "hard to foresee since there is no registration," Maier said. He added that the department would try to keep the class size "lower than the theoretical maximum" of six, though some tutors said they have classes of as many as seven or eight.

Still, one junior complained of being switched from tutor to tutor because both instructors had full classes. Another student said he was concerned with finding a tutor whose specialty coincided with his own interest.

The department has tried to compensate by hiring extra tutors, especially in American history, where two former tutors are on leave this year doing research, Maier said. Tutors who have taught History 98 but were not scheduled to do so this year were rehired, he explained, and added that several tutors were given extra sections.

In addition, two teaching fellows were made instructors so that they could help with the tutorials, and one History and Literature tutor will also lead a history tutorial, Maier said.

Overall, there will be 18 tutors for History 98, six of whom will teach American history, according to Geri Malatasta, the department's tutorial secretary.

Tutors agreed that t he shuffling of instructors and students is necessary every year, but has been especially heavy this fall. One tutor said that although he had only two juniors in his area of interest last year, this year the number is up to eight.

A European history tutor attributed part or the problem to "more people studying American history this year than there should be."