Cites " deception 1 Hanszen Cabinet withdraws support for RUF campaign

by BRIAN BUCHANAN Rice Univers i ty 's g r a d u a t e religion p rogram w a s listed as " inadequate" in a recently released study prepared by the Rev. Dr. Claude Welch, dean of Berkeley's Gradua te Theological Union. In the repor t , released through the American Council of Learned Societies, Rice was listed among the oneth i rd of American g radua te religion depar tments which should be closed. Dr. Niels Christ ian Nielsen, J r . , Chairman of the Depar t ment of Religious Studies, t akes exception to the conclusions presented by Welch in the s tudy. He feels t h a t the quali ty of g r adua t e religious work a t Rice is excellent, on a pa r with nationally known schools. In response to the criticism of Rice's " t iny" religion depar tment faculty, Nielson said "we were only a t tacked f o r quant i ty , not quali ty." While admi t t ing a smaller facul ty than he would like to have, Nielson believes tha t the th ree pa r t t ime and fou r ful l t ime personnel in the depar t men t are suff ic ient fo r the eleven g radua te s tudents current ly in the program. According to the Time ar t icle on the report , religion is the " f a s t e s t growing g radua te field of s tudy a t secular universit ies," with 335 doctorates being awarded las t year. The r is ing national interest in religion would seem to be reflected a t Rice, where 286 undergraduates , near ly 10% of the s tudent body, a re takingcourses in religion. Nielson also stressed t h a t the report w a s solely " the work of one man , " and tha t while it had been released th rough the ACLS, it has received no off i cial accreditat ion by the organizat ion.