As the Polish crisis continued to escalate, President Reagan took time Tuesday to meet a Vatican-sponsored delegation headed by Dr. Howard H. Hiatt, dean of the School of Public Health, that urged an increased effort to abolish nuclear weapons. The meeting was the first of several that will take place between emissaries of Pope John Paul II and leaders of four of the five recognized nuclear powers. Hiatt and three other experts told the president that casualties from a single megaton explosion in Washington, D.C., would overwhelm the area's medical facilities, a suggestion Reagan reportedly did not dispute. Hiatt said that Reagan acknowledged during the 20-minute meeting that a nuclear exchange would "end civilization as we know it" and that it is impossible to "reconcile this with thoughts that one can win or survive a nuclear war."

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The Medical School faculty this week overwhelmingly approved a series of curriculum changes that will be implemented over the next three years, despite strong opposition from students. Complaints from students focused mainly on an increase in mandatory courses, especially the addition of four months of "in hospital" clerkships. Other changes included the addition of an optional full-year genetics course, the switching of a pharmacology course taken by most students from the second year to the first, and the elimination of a four-month concentration requirement for fourth-year students. Despite student objections to those changes, several faculty members said this week they wish the reforms had gone further.

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The Cambridge City Council this week, in a surprise move, named Robert Healy as city manager, Cambridge's top administrative post. Healy said the 7-1 vote on the appointment means he will be "able to act with a little more authority" than he has during the last six months, when he has served as acting city manager.