EDUCATION
Berkeley Study Proposes Sweeping Changes Key recommendation calls for continuous change and experimentation to preserve integrity and stability of campus "We sense that we are part of a great national—and international—development, the response to an historical crisis in higher education." With this broad view of its mission, a high-level faculty committee of the University of California, Berkeley, has recommended sweeping changes in the educational setup at that campus. The key proposal calls for a permanent structure within the university to encourage continuous change and experimentation, while preserving the integrity and stability of the campus (C&EN, March 28, page 26). The nine-member committee, headed by Dr. Charles Muscatine of the English department, surveyed 2300 students; several hundred faculty, administrators, and teaching assistants; and educators across the nation in its 10-month study. Nearly every major college, it finds, is going through a similar self-examination. "Almost all the major elements that compose a university—the teachers, the students, knowledge itself, and their social setting—are in an unprecedented state of change." There is no doubt that the 228-page report ("Education at Berkeley," University of California Press, Berkeley) will be read on many campuses. Many of the proposals are standard practice at certain schools around the country. Taken as a whole, though, the 42 recommendations constitute a major change in the philosophy of higher education. Response. Berkeley's response to the historical crisis was born in a crisis of its own. The student demonstrations that kept the campus in turmoil during much of 1964 and 1965, although ostensibly political, uncovered a large reservoir of dissatisfaction with many aspects of education at Berkeley. Many proposals are designed to meet student objections that the committee found valid. Thus, the report recommends increased student-faculty 50
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COMMITTEE. The nine-member committee, headed by Dr. Charles Muscatine (fifth from right in back row) of Berkeley's English department, concludes that Berkeley is not the only campus with problems. Nearly every major college and university is going through a similar self-examination
contact through freshman seminars, smaller classes, and a better system of advising. To meet the needs and interests of the students, there should be more freedom in choosing courses, more problem-oriented courses, more field studies, more interdisciplinary courses, a greater emphasis on the teaching ability of faculty, and less emphasis on grading. Beyond specific recommendations, the committee sees a need for a builtin capacity to adapt and to innovate as conditions change. To this end, it proposes a Board of Educational Development composed of six faculty members and a vice chancellor for educational development. The board would encourage, authorize, and review experimental programs. These could include any course, curriculum, teaching practice, or change in existing requirements. The board would also formulate proposals for getting funds for its programs from various private and public sources. The vice chancellor would administer policies and programs and do the actual money raising. Although the board would normally have no trouble in getting experimental programs accepted as part of degree requirements, the committee concedes that "differences of viewpoints" may arise. In such an event,
another new body, the Council for Special Curricula, would try to resolve the differences and, if necessary, would have the power to grant undergraduate degrees on its own authority. Chemistry. In a minority report, Dr. George Pimentel of the chemistry department (who also signed the majority report), criticizes the Board of Educational Development as a "university within a university." It will have its own vice chancellor, its own fund sources, its own courses, its own faculty, and even its own degrees. He also hits the lack of sufficient controls on the board. "We may well find it difficult to live with our own creation," he warns. Dr. Pimentel proposes instead that the board be headed by an assistant chancellor under the vice chancellor for academic affairs and that it include members from existing faculty committees on educational policy and courses. To this proposal, another committee member, Dr. Peter Scott, replies that such a setup itself might be unwieldy, "a committee structure within a committee structure." Because many of the other recommendations of the Muscatine committee depend on a Board of Educational Development, the recommendation to set it up went before Berke-
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Finally, the report says, "nearly four fifths agreed with the popular cliche that the university operates as a factory." To ignore such results is impossible. Part of the problem is that the Berkeley campus (almost 27,000 students) is not a unified college community. Almost two thirds of the students feel the university is too impersonal. Most such complaints are directed at the College of Letters and Science. The professional schools and colleges do have the desired intimacy, the committee says. These also get praise for effective student orientation and advising, whereas Letters and Science (more than 12,000 students) is criticized strongly for its woefully inadequate systems.
DISSENT. Berkeley chemist and committee member George Pimentel signed the report but criticizes the key proposal on the grounds that it would set up a "university within a university"
ley's Academic Senate less than five days after the report was released. About 400 of that body's top members attended the meeting. There was little discussion, and a vote on the proposal was put off. Delving into the feelings of the students, the Muscatine committee discovered some ambiguous attitudes. In a survey last April, 90% of the sample thought that "Cal is a good place to go to school," and 80% were satisfied with courses, examinations, and professors. Another survey, in September 1965 revealed that 75% of undergrads thought the amount of course work required was reasonable. At the same time, perhaps half of the students cut classes to demonstrate against the administration of the university. Discontent. The same survey revealed deep discontent, the report says. A third of the students thought their classes so big that they learned too little in them. Forty-two per cent thought the grading system reflects "only slightly" the student's actual knowledge and understanding of the subject, and another 5% "not at all/' Again, 46% said professors spend too little time with their students, and 42% think profs are more interested in research than in teaching. 52
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To improve contact between students, the proposal for freshman seminars with no more than 12 students in each is essential, the committee feels. It also recommends that more professors teach lower division courses, noting that some senior professors show "an extreme aversion" to undergraduate teaching. On this score, the report praises two departments—English, where senior professors usually teach freshman courses, and chemistry, "where the right to teach beginning courses is an honor accorded only to distinguished members of the department." A more controversial proposal is that teaching be given more weight in promoting faculty than it now has. Stressing that both teaching and research are essential and that a teacher who is not a scholar doesn't belong in a university, the committee points out that data on the performance of a teacher are scarce. It recommends that nominations for promotion also include evaluations by colleagues (based on class visitations) and a statement by the candidate describing "the rationale of his teaching efforts." The report also recommends that all graduate students do some teaching, that teaching assistants get training in teaching, and that they get more pay. It also proposes a campuswide trial in student grading of teachers. On grading of students, the report suggests a limited use of passfail, especially in courses outside the major to encourage student experimentation outside his specialty. In his report, Dr. Pimentel dissents most with several proposals he regards as too permissive—voluntary advising, unlimited field study, pass-
fail grading, courses on current topics of special interest to students (ad hoc courses), looser foreign language requirements. All these have merit, he says, but they should be rewards earned by the motivated student. Also, there is too little regulation and evaluation of the student's performance. He fears that some of these programs are looked on "as an answer to the alienated and unmotivated student's lack of direction and his unwillingness to perform." It is significant, he notes, that these students tend to center on the humanities, the area that is already the most permissive and least restrictive in course requirements. Affect. It isn't likely that many of the proposals made by the Muscatine committee, if adopted, will seriously affect the College of Chemistry (department of chemistry and chemical engineering). Student-faculty relationships are very good, Dr. Pimentel says, and the morale of teaching assistants is high. Honor students have flexible programs and the option of taking pass-fail courses outside the major. That there is little discontent with the chemistry department is supported by a campus organization that last year gave the department high marks for its programs, teaching, and lack of maddening red tape. Another committee member, Dr. Theodore Vermeulen of the chemical engineering department, thinks that the College of Chemistry could play a larger role in interdisciplinary courses. Also, he says, the college could benefit from a broader spectrum and better quality liberal arts courses to supplement its professional program, a point made also in the report. He thinks that the college will take steps to increase the proportion of courses in the humanities its students take. But Dr. Vermeulen doesn't expect the college to take part in field studies or ad hoc courses. Jerry Goldstein, president of UC's Associated Students, is enthusiastic about the Muscatine report and praises many of its proposals. It is too early, however, to get a reading of student opinion. The list of recommendations, by itself, makes dry reading. But those who read the full report will find it interesting and provocative—no glib attempt to explain away faults. The committee recognizes that serious problems do exist. The committee has at least begun a serious effort to solve them.
