Encourage all students to undertake independent study (either alone or in groups) with the approval of a faculty sponsor who would be responsible for the evaluation of their work; and

Promote the creation of new University Courses.

The professors threw out the proposal that beginning students take a minimum number of MOT courses. One student reformer said in retrospect that the faculty wasn't willing to work out the 200 to 400 MOT courses that would have been required to make the plan work.

"They argued that we were asking them to eliminate all requirements, so we couldn't require MOT courses," this student continued. "But some younger professors realized that we were really asking for much more time spent on undergraduates and on teaching instead of research- and teaching is not generally highly regarded."

The "dossier" idea was considered impractical; instead, the faculty has made provision this fall for students to receive detailed Academic Performance Reports (APR's) from professors in courses in which they are especially interested or which form part of their preparation for graduate school. These reports are similar to graduate school recommendation forms; students hope that the APR's will be more meaningful to them than hastily assigned grades.

"Not a single one of the students," Dean Fokelmann said last week, "argued for less evaluation. They wanted more evaluation of a higher quality. They wanted to know more than just whether they could get a good grade on an exam."

HOW has reform worked out this year at Brown?

In many ways, of course, it's still too early to say. One of the original reformers Elliott Maxwell '68, was back at the campus before Christmas vacation and said that he was disappointed that he didn't see more "gleam" in student's eyes. "Students do not go for 12, 13, or 14 years under a graded system," Friedel says, "and then all of a sudden say 'Hey, the pressure's off, I can decide what's important myself.' The mentality is still there."

Still, there are impressive signs of undergraduate intellectual ferment in Providence.

Thirty-seven MOT courses were introduced this fall, and students signed up for them eagerly. There will be two dozen more in the spring. A student-faculty committee oversees the program.

The number of students enrolled in independent study has increased to more than 300- a tripling compared to the preceding semester, according to Eckelmann. More than a dozen groups of students are pursuing independent research in Group Independent Study Projects. One G.I.S.P. is studying "Revolution."

A new Concentrations Committee has approved about twenty original plans submitted by students. The Committee has two student advisors, and is encouraging all departments to revise the standard concentration programs.

Forty per cent of all undergraduates at Brown are taking all of their courses on a satisfactory/no credit basis. Freshman have taken advantage of the S/NC option most enthusiastically: 61 per cent are receiving no letter grades this term. Only 28 per cent of the seniors have gone over entirely to the new system.

FOR SENIORS, of course, the attitude of graduate and professional schools has been the biggest question about the pass/fail arrangement. One senior at Brown was told by two law school interviewers that they would suspect any student who reported his grades as "satisfactory" of trying to disguise his performance. An assistant professor here, who is a member of the admissions committee at the Kennedy School of Government, told a reporter last week that he doubted he could "take a chance" on an applicant who reported no grades "even if he had the soundest recommendations."

"You can only turn down so many straight A students," he said, "when you have hundreds of applicants for so few openings."