But he cautioned that graduate students who arefinancially dependent on their TF stipends but whofail to meet a language standard should not bepenalized.
"They should find a way to help the studentwith his English, but they should also makearrangements for this person's financial support,"Lopez said. "The University or the department hasto be responsible for the student's financialaid."
Under Buell's original proposal, graduatestudents judged to need further English trainingwould take part in programs administered throughboth the Bok Center and the English as a SecondLanguage (ESL) program of the Division ofContinuing Education.
The ESL program deals with language problems,while the Bok Center focuses on communication andteaching skills.
"We see ourselves as one leg of a three-leggedstool, where the other legs would be thedepartments and the Bok center," said Lilith M.Haynes, ESL program administrator.
"We would want to give [the graduate students]all kinds of skills, which the Bok center alsoreinforces," Haynes said. "Communication is verymulti-faceted--the whole question of speed, thequestion of pronunciation."
The ESL program already helps graduate studentswho take classes voluntarily. Eighteen studentsfrom across the University enrolled in suchprograms through the Division of ContinuingEducation last fall, she said.
And Haynes said that expanding the staff of theprogram to accommodate more widespread trainingwould not pose a problem.
"The idea is that we would work jointly withthe professional schools to set up testing andvarious kinds of training for different schools,"she said.
"I think that the awareness of the problem mayhave been there, but the urgency now is critical,"Haynes added.
Some departments already require their TFs toenroll in teacher-training courses at the Bokcenter. Courses designed to improve the languageskills of TFs include spoken English, writtenEnglish and materiel presentation.
The Mathematics Department, for example, wasthe first department on campus to require its TFsto enroll in an apprentice program at the BokCenter.
Math TFs, however, have traditionally been someof those most criticized for their lack of Englishskills.
"A lot of students use their TF's accent as anexcuse not to do their best work," said Donna R.D'Fini, coordinator of the department's graduateprograms. "Some students concentrate on theaccent, not on the math."
D'Fini, who has worked in Harvard's mathdepartment for 17 years, said she recognizes theproblems inherent in assigning foreign-born TFs toteach sections.
But she said that many problems in thesesections result from students' negative attitudesrather than actual problems with how their TFscommunicate.
"Things have a lot to do with culturaldifferences and prejudices," D'Fini said. "Somestudents come in with a mind that is alreadyclosed to a TF with an accent--in the time thatI've been here I've even seen students complainingabout a TF with a strong Southern accent.