The Faculty of Arts and Sciences will begin discussing the Doty Report on General Education today at its first meeting of the academic year.

Paul M. Doty, professor of Chemistry, is expected to lead off with a defense of the 102-page report, which will eventually affect all facets of education at the College. Doty will probably move that the report be adopted, with other members of his committee making seconding speeches.

What will happen next is still uncertain. Dean Ford, who is chairing the meeting, may move for a vote of confidence in the report and thus bar all but minor changes in its recommendations. It is more likely, however, that the Faculty will vote to debate the report point by point but to delay hearing specific objections until its next meeting, on Nov. 10.

The Doty Report will not come up for discussion until a half hour or 45 minutes from the end of today's meeting. It is the last item on what otherwise appears to be a routine docket.

Even though the Departments may not have time to state their objections to the Doty report, many will go into today's meeting with firm positions. Most have met during the past two weeks to work out their stands.

Gov. Department Objections

A proposal likely to stir controversy is that General Education be divided into only two fields, the humanities and the sciences. The Government Department, among others, objects to this scheme, which would put some Government courses into each broad category.

"Many of us in the Department strongly feel that historical studies can be carried on systematically, even scientifically," Samuel H. Beer, professor of Government, said last night. Beer called the Doty proposal a "Dogmatic implication" to the contrary that should not be "institutionalized" at Harvard.

Other Recommendations

Among the 102-page report's other recommendations are that undergraduates be required to take more science courses than they are now, and that they be allowed to study subjects in greater depth. Sweeping administrative reforms, covering such questions as the amount of teaching time each Department should devote to Gen Ed courses, are also proposed.