Lewis and Dingman are working to "clarify" therole of the resident tutor by drafting a "commontext" as a guideline.

But while College administrators are spendingtheir time drafting a document which many sayoutlines the most obvious of duties--like takingmeals in the House dining hall and attending Housefunctions--the most difficult part oftutoring--recognizing students with problems,remains unchanged.

"There are students who aren't strugglingacademically but have emotional and personalissues," says Anne M. Joseph, a two-year QuincyHouse tutor.

Teaching The Fellows

Students spend more time each week in classwith TFs than with their resident tutors, andcounselors say one of the first signs of studentdistress is academic lethargy.

But scrutinizing the reasons behind a missedsection or a late paper raises the recurringquestion of what is too much intervention.

According to Dennis N. Skiotis, coordinator ofundergraduate studies of the history department,TFs "should notice a pattern" of problems.

After "two or three extensions and assignmentsare still not being turned in," a TF should reportthe incident to the head tutor, who then reportsproblems to the senior tutor--who is responsiblefor keeping track of reports concerning theHouse's 400 to 500 students.

"At that point, the House senior tutor carriesthe ball," he adds. "The senior tutor is[technically] the one who lives with and knows astudent as a person, although I kind of doubt thatmyself."

Susumu Kuno, head tutor of the linguisticsdepartment, says the size of his concentrationaffords his 25 undergraduates extra attention.

Yet Kuno says the support only goes so far--andcasual contact is different from officialintervention, which goes through the House seniortutor's office.

"We cannot take any legal responsibility forchecking how students are doing," Kuno says. "Idon't think it should be a full responsibility. Wecan't. We just don't have the manpower. The Housesystem is designed to do that. They have the staffand the specialists."

Departments do often try to equip their tutorsand teaching fellows with proper preparation forclassroom crises by holding retreats to discussstudent problems, others send TFs for training atthe Derek Bok Center.

But only half of the College's TFs go to theBok Center, and the Center's extensive teachingfellow handbook emphasizes TF accessibility, notoutreach.

"If a student comes to you with a personal oremotional problem, you may decide to be asupportive listener even if you do not want togive advice," the handbook reads.