The Committee on Educational Policy Wednesday approved a plan which will allow any undergraduate to cross-register at M.I.T., Brandeis, Boston University and the Ed School for courses on Africa.

The CEP, following a Harvard Policy Committee recommendation, instructed the College Administration to make necessary arrangements with those institutions over the summer, and they are expected to agree to the plan. "We have been assured that instructors at these schools would welcome some Harvard students," Dean Ford said Wednesday.

About 15 African courses will be available next fall. The normal rules covering cross-registration will not apply so students will not need the approval of their department unless they want to count the course for concentration. Students in any rank group list, not just I, II, and III, will be able to enroll at courses at other colleges.

The rules covering Independent Study are also being loosened so that anyone holding a regular academic appointment at a college or university in the area will be allowed to supervise a student's Independent Study program. Usually Independent Studies must be directed by Corporation appointees.

These changes apply only to African studies and only next year (Ford calls them "strictly stop-gap"). A Faculty Committee on Afro-American Studies was created about a month ago, and when its recommendations for a permanent Harvard program of Afro-American studies are formed and adopted the cross-registration will probably be phased out.

Point by Point

The CEP action yesterday followed almost point-by-point an HPC report issued two weeks ago. As has become customary, four HPC members testified during most of the hour the CEP spent considering the resolution.

The cross-registration will be reciprocal, but only within the field of African Studies. Ford said that B.U., M.I.T., and Brandeis students probably would not be able to get into Harvard's new Gen Ed course on "The Afro-American Experience," which is likely to be overapplied by Harvard and Radcliffe students.