In an open meeting of the full Faculty of Arts and Sciences yesterday afternoon, Kenan Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield '53 publicly challenged President Neil L. Rudenstine about the pervasiveness of political correctness at Harvard.

"Having suffered though yet another excruciatingly P.C. Commencement I felt I had to say something," Mansfield said at the meeting.

Mansfield condemned the choice of several recent Commencement Day speakers, along with the process by which the speakers were selected.

Of the recent speakers, Mansfield particularly criticized Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundt-land, former Philippine president Corazon Aquino and last year's speaker, former president of Ireland Mary R. Robinson.

"They were three women, three liberals and three mediocrities," he said.

His comment drew gasps and hisses from the Faculty.

Mansfield proposed Margaret H. Thatcher, former Prime Minister of Great Britain, as a conservative woman worthy of future consideration.

"All you have to do is to look around the scene and ask yourself who is the mightiest woman of our time and that would be Margaret Thatcher," Mansfield said.

"Yet Harvard has not seen fit to honor her in any way."

Comparing Thatcher to recent honorees, Mansfield said he saw "a sorry contrast."

Rudenstine explained that he personally wields little power in the naming of Commencement speakers. A committee including members of the Faculty and of the Corporation makes the choice. He urged Mansfield to write a letter to that committee.

Mansfield also used the time devoted to open questioning to denounce the first-year Expository Writing program, which he called "P.C. to the core."

"Every single one of those courses was on contemporary literature and most were on political themes, and most were on race, class and gender," Mansfield said.

Rudenstine confessed he knew little about the Expos. program, but expressedconfidence in its effectiveness as a teachingtool.

Mansfield was the only professor who raisedquestions during the section of the meetingdevoted to general comments to the President.

Also during the meeting William R. Fitzsimmons'67, dean of admissions and financial aid,reported the details of the recently announcedreform of undergraduate financial aid.

Fitzsimmons reviewed for the Faculty thereasoning behind the decision to cut the amountstudents must contribute from work-study and fromloans.

"[In the past,] access to the front door wasfine, but students were having difficulty takingfull advantage of the academic andextra-curricular opportunities available to them"once at the College, Fitzsimmons said.

Fitzsimmons said members of his staff have seena favorable response to the changes whiletraveling around the country.

"The reaction from the general public and theguidance counselors of the world has been quiteremarkable," he said.

Dean of the Graduate School of Arts andSciences Christoph J. Wolff also reported to theFaculty, reviewing the progress of graduatefinancial aid reform.

Wolff stressed the importance of remainingcompetitive in graduate aid, as well as providingpaid teaching opportunities to graduate students.

In response, Higginson Professor of History andof East Asian Languages and Civilizations PhilipA. Kuhn '54 rose to warn against using graduatestudent teaching positions to solve problems infinancial aid.

"If there is an impetus toward developing largeCore courses for the purpose of creating teachingslots, it needs to be monitored," Kuhn said. "Thedrift of teaching effort into large Core coursesis already noticeable in some departments. I knowit is in mine."

The Faculty also heard a description of theplans for the proposed Knafel Center forGovernment and International Studies, which werepresented to Cambridge residents Oct. 13. Thecurrent proposal calls for the center to utilizethe spaces currently occupied by Coolidge Hall andthe University Information Services building, witha connection under Cambridge Street.

The Faculty also heard reports on the progressof overhauls of the Hollis library managementsystem and the Harvard Educational Records System.

In a closed session following the open meeting,according to the published agenda, Dean of theCollege Harry R. Lewis '68 moved that anundergraduate be dismissed from the College.

As opposed to the request that a student take aleave of absence, the permanent dismissal of astudent must be approved by the full Faculty andis only pursued in the most serious cases