Officials of the English and History departments yesterday said that they were sympathetic towards the University's course reduction program, but noted little student interest in substituting individual projects for standard course work.

Oscar Handlin, Chairman of the History Department, stated that course reduction seems "abstractly desirable" in theory, but is rarely demanded in practice by students. But Handlin added that he advocated extending a "maximum of freedom" to students seeking course reduction.

Monroe Engel, assistant professor of English and senior English tutor, commented that he preferred independent projects, with some coherence, such as reading series of "books that bear some relation to each other."