Still, many fine schools do provide a traditional liberal arts background emphasizing Western Civilization, and others incorporate a "world" orientation. In Massachusetts, Boston University has had a nationally respected core program since 1989, created after five years of faculty consideration, and the Tufts faculty inaugurated its World Civilization program in 1992. Many other schools are providing excellent core programs. I have visited a number of these. My first and perhaps most memorable such experience was to attend Harvard-trained Hardy Hansen's "The Classical Origins of Western Culture" class at Brooklyn College in 1991. When Lynne Cheney, then-chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, released her landmark 1989 booklet "50 Hours: A Core Curriculum for College Students," the Brooklyn program was cited as exemplary.

Catholic colleges and universities across the country are offering core curriculums in the best liberal arts tradition. At Manhattan College in Riverdale, N.Y., I attended Dr. Thomas J. Smith's required course "Classic Origins of Western Culture" in 1993. The topic of the day was the Tale of the Trojan Horse from Virgil's Aeneid.

In light of core liberal arts programs at these among many other colleges, Harvard's failure to provide a meaningful core is indefensible.

But there is reason for optimism. Professor of History James Hankins, McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History Steven Ozment, Goelet Professor of French History Patrice Higonnet '58, and Krupp Foundation Professor of European Studies Charles S. Maier '60, appear to have adaptations of History 10 ("Western Societies, Politics, and Cultures") headed into the core for 1995-96. As Ozment notes, "The distinctive feature of a liberal education has traditionally been the acquisition of a deep sense of precedent, so the goal has been to give students a long perspective on the world they live in."

William Bennett writes that "a good college will separate the great texts and the important ideas from the run-of-the-mill and offer the best to its students and that offering will be the institution's vision of a truly educated person."

Without a meaningful core, Harvard no longer offers the best to its students, leaving them to identify quality liberal arts courses for themselves. Although relevant knowledge does not remain wholly static, some fundamentals endure and are worth passing on.

Harvard's fundamental liberal arts program has strayed from its glory days, when it required students to study the values that are the foundation of our culture, while maintaining high academic standards. Harvard's administration must return to the drawing board to develop a core liberal arts program that is worthy of the Harvard name.

William H. Chrisman '55 is a property tax consultant in Phoenix, AZ. At Harvard, he concentrated in Economics.