Dean May proposed a complete re-examination of Harvard undergraduate education yesterday, calling on students and Faculty in Harvard Houses to develop specific recommendations for revising all aspects of the curriculum.

Comparing the study to a similar report on "General Education in a Free Society" in 1944, May said it was the first major re-examination of educational policy in 25 years and possibly equal in importance to curriculum revisions under Harvard Presidents Lowell and Eliot.

Among the issues open for discussion, May said, are the General Education program, concentrations, honors programs, four-year residency requirements, and any new proposals for experimental courses and teaching techniques.

In his first major recommendation as dean of the College, May released a seven-page memorandum to Harvard and Radcliffe House Masters, House committee chairmen, dean of Freshmen and the president of the Freshman Council urging them to initiate an "open-ended" discussion of curriculum policy.

May said the burden for developing new programs will fall to students and Faculty through House discussions. He has asked each House to come up with written recommendations which May will then collate and present to the newly-created Committee on Undergraduate Education.

In a press conference yesterday afternoon, May said he assumed department faculties and representatives of Harvard professional schools will also enter the discussions, both to counter-balance undergraduate suggestions and to give an indication how the new curriculum might be received by graduate school admission offices.

"I expect this study to have an impact on American education and higher education everywhere," May said. The study is part of the process of "periodic self-renewal," he added.

The proposed curriculum study grew out of several influences including the April student strike, in the Harvard community, May said. "It is clear that there is dissatisfaction among students, and a good deal of open-mindedness toward consideration of change among the Faculty," he said.

"Dissatisfaction twists the emphasis," Mare J. Roberts '64, assistant professor of Economics who aided May in drawing up the memorandum, said. "People I have talked with say this is just a good time to rethink the issues."

Dean Ford at the same time expressed guarded optimism over the possibilities of the study. "My positive reaction is thatit puts serious argument back where it belongs in the curriculum, "he said." A lot of students are not taking curriculum seriously and Dean May is right to suggest a certain urgency in this study."

Both May and Ford said they hope specific curriculum legislation will come before the Faculty this Spring. after it completes debate of the Fainsod report on restructuring.

The proposed study initiates a new concept in Faculty reform. Unlike other major curriculum reforms. typified by the 1944 General Education report. the proposal comes from the office of the dean of the College- not the Faculty itself- and does not call for a centralized review committee.

Complicated Issues

"Some people have suggested it's over- ambitious and they may be right." May said. "There are many complicated issues."

"Since so many administrative decisions raised these issues implicitly, it was time to raise them explicitly," Roberts added.

After replacing Fred L. Glimp as dean of the College last summer, May said he would give top priority to possible curriculum reform.