While any department's inability to offer course selections in certain areas is unfortunate, in the case of Social Studies' junior tutorials, it is particularly significant. Since the concentration does not offer courses, tutorials are the essence of its program. In a letter to the faculty committee, social Studies said that, "In principle, the junior tutorial is meant to serve as an anchor of sorts for the student's program." The letter adds that "Most students develop their senior thesis topics in the course of their junior tutorials." It would seem to make writing a thesis difficult if a student's program is "anchored" to a totally unrelated topic.
Due to the nature of their concentration thesis writers in Social Studies apparently experience other unique difficulties. Since the concentration has no tenured faculty, finding thesis advisors can be troublesome. Although this problem is hard to quantify, anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that most professors feel a much stronger responsibility to advise the theses of their own concentrators. Occasionally, we hear horror stories of Social Studies concentrators who spend months searching for advisors.
There also seem to be problems in thesis grading that are directly related to Social Studies' committee status. The concentration lacks the same stable core of thesis readers that a department like Government can rely on. Social Studies must reach out to other departments for graders, raising questions of whether readers with an allegiance to a different discipline can fairly evaluate a Social Studies thesis. No matter how much of an effort is made to read it according to Social Studies' requirements, a government thesis reader is accustomed to government department standards, and may have trouble properly appreciating Social Studies' distinctive interdisciplinary approach.
The likelihood that other departments will not evaluate Social Studies theses on their own terms comes up again in the matter of thesis prizes. Prizes are awarded by department. Soc Stud has none of its own. While all Government theses are automatically considered for special government prizes, Social Studies' theses must be screened by Soc Stud, and only a few are forwarded for consideration. Furthermore, even if a Social Studies thesis is forwarded, it must compete in a department whose logic and terminology it does not necessarily employ.
Considering the many issues now facing the concentration, the next few months may well be a watershed time. The inderdisciplinary approach that Social Studies has pioneered continues to have great appeal; students are voting with their study cards. The administration should be more supportive of a concentration with this kind of mandate.
The Faculty committee's study has concluded. The time for talk is over. Social Studies concentrators are awaiting signs from the administration that it has the same faith in the concentration that they do.
Lavea Brachman and Adam Cohen are sophomore concentrators in Social Studies.