In some ways, he said, the shorter exam period seems to help students.

"House masters have even said that attention levels went up when the nine-day period was instituted," Herschbach said.

Most students on the committee said they favored the proposal.

"The idea of adding an extra day of intersession is especially appealing to me," said Tobias B. Kasper '97.

But Simons said he would like to see the registrar take even more steps to accommodate student needs.

"What I would like to see is flexibility with regard to when students can take their exams," he said. "I think in this regard Harvard is a little more Draconian than some [other] schools."

Thinking About Teaching

The committee also continued its discussion of Dean of Undergraduate Education Lawrence Buell's forthcoming letter to the Faculty on concerns about the teaching of undergraduates.

Many committee members suggested a possible solution to be encouraging professors to regularly visit class sections taught by teaching fellows (TFs) to observe their methods.

"Part of it's TF evaluation. Part of it's to get a sense of where the students are, to gauge what students are having difficulties with," said Baird Professor of Physics Gary J. Feldman.

Rebecca E. Stich '98 said she believes professors should play a minimal role in teaching during visits to sections.

"I think it's not so much small group access to what a professor has to say, but to have a professor acknowledge and listen to what a student has to say," Stich said. "That's what sections are for."

Sarah K. Hurwitz '99 presented a "grading standardization policy" to ensure uniform grading standards by TFs throughout various types of classes.

In her proposal, Hurwitz suggested that papers should be graded by more than one TF whenever possible.

But faculty members and TFs agreed that TFs already spend too much time grading papers and exams and that other solutions should be examined.

"What you really should suggest is that the whole group of TFs go over a group of papers with the professor in a room and decide, OK, this is what an A paper should be like," said Carlos A. Lopez, who is president of the Graduate Student Council.

Buell cautioned, however, that grade standardization might discourage student creativity.

"Standardization sounds like you put it all in a blender and there goes originality, creativity," Buell said