Students Critique Review at Forum

On the day the Faculty of Arts and Sciences was slated to meet in University Hall to vote on a no-confidence motion in the leadership of University President Lawrence H. Summers, students and faculty instead gathered in Kirkland House to discuss the future of undergraduate education at the College.

The forum was billed as an opportunity to push forward the curricular review in the wake of the announced resignations of Summers and Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby, which threaten to sidetrack the review process.

“There are administrators who want to keep going with the curricular review,” said Matthew R. Greenfield ’08, a member of the Undergraduate Council (UC) and one of the organizers of yesterday’s event. “For every one of them, there are also colleagues of theirs who are too easily distracted, who are far too ready to hesitate, to retreat on the past three years of the curricular review.”

Despite student fears, 300th Anniversary University Professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, a member of the Faculty Council, reassured students that the Faculty remained committed to the curricular review.

“I want to assure you that last week at the Faculty Council [meeting], there was a unanimous commitment to move forward with the curricular review,” she said during the event.

The forum, which was sponsored by the UC, allowed the approximately 70 students and 10 faculty members in attendance to voice their opinions on general education and advising.

Many students expressed a dissatisfaction with the current Core Curriculum and advising system.

“It is a very patronizing experience,” Adam Goldenberg ’08 said yesterday.

Goldenberg, who is a Crimson editorial editor and publishes a biweekly column, said he prefers taking departmental classes, which “make you feel like a real academic entity, rather than a mere undergraduate.”

Professors in attendance also expressed a desire to teach courses that students take out of academic interest and not only to fulfill Core requirements.

“I would prefer to teach courses with a captive audience...not because they are forced to take it freshman year,” said Saltonstall Professor of History Charles S. Maier ’60.

Students also voiced their concerns with the current advising system, and many supported the Education Policy Committee’s recommendation to delay concentration choice by a semester.

In what was a common criticism, one student said that he felt he did not have enough information to choose a concentration as a freshman.

“I didn’t know what the difference [between government and social studies] was until I had already decided to concentrate in government,” Joshua Patashnik ’07 said.

Administrators acknowledged yesterday that improving advising was a priority.

“Advising is something that we are going to move full-steam ahead with next year,” said Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71. “This is an area where we have nowhere to go but up.”

The newly appointed Associate Dean of Academic Advising Monique Rinere was in attendance.

Some students were skeptical that their input would ultimately have an impact on the curricular review process.

“It all comes down to the fundamental fact that Harvard students...don’t actually have any power,” said Andrew H. Golis ’06. “If the Faculty and the administration want to ignore us, they can.”

But professors and administrators in attendance were adamant that student input was necessary for the success of the curricular review.

Kirby, who attended last night’s forum, said that while it was the “Faculty’s responsibility” to make decisions on the curricular review, it should do so based on “the advice of students as well.”

At the end of the meeting, Gross said that student opinion is vital to the success of the curricular review.

“This has been one of the most helpful discussions that I have attended in the entire curricular review,” he said. “I think we need more student input.”

—Staff writer Alexander D. Blankfein can be reached at ablankf@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Rachel L. Pollack can be reached at rpollack@fas.harvard.edu.