Engell and others also called for a linguistic Core requirement to bal- ance out the proposed Quantitative Reasoning Requirement, which was met with no opposition at the meeting.

"To know a language and a culture different from one's own is a fundamental requirement of humanism itself," said Gregory Nagy, chair of the classics department. "Quantitative Reasoning must be formally counter-balanced with a linguistic reasoning requirement."

According to Engell, Brown is the only school among the Ivies that has a more relaxed language requirement policy than Harvard. Harvard's only requirement is that students who take a year of elementary-level language classes receive a passing grade.

"Linguistic competency in a language other than English is equally important in life as a competency in quantitative reasoning," Engell said.

Stanley H. Hoffman, a member of the CRC, said that he had long supported an increased language requirement, but his committee had not proposed a linguistic reasoning requirement because they "had enough fish to fry."

Other Proposals

As debate began over the issues, Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr. '53, Kenan professor of government, advocated a "Great Books" curriculum to replace the current Core.

Mansfield read extensively from a report issued in the fall of 1995 by the Student Committee on Undergraduate Requirements.

"[A Great Books program] would not claim to include every book that deserves to be called great," Mansfield read, emphasizing such a program's treatment of "fundamental questions."

"Is one only truly liberally educated when one can think like a historian or a scientist, or should one instead think about why one should be a historian or a scientist?" he read.

David Layzer '46, Menzel professor of astrophysics, also presented an alternate to the current Core curriculum, emphasizing the need for small, writing-intensive discussion sections to accompany lecture classes in the Core.

Other Issues

Preceding Core debate on the meeting docket was Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Jeremy R. Knowles's announcement of three recent private donations to the College Library system which totaled $9 million.

With a recent column from The Crimson in hand, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals Peter J. Gomes then stood up to protest violations of the "purity" of Reading Period.

"There appears to have been a profound erosion around the edges, and now, down the center of reading period," Gomes said, making reference to sections, lectures, and some exams being given after the formal end of classes.

"I would hate to see [reading period] fall into disuse or abuse," he said