There seems to be a good deal of faculty support for this initiative.

In a survey of faculty opinions conducted by The Crimson this fall, 31 out of 147 professors who responded to a question that asked them to rank their priorities for the Faculty, on a scale of one to 10 (with one being most important), gave “strengthening the sciences” a one.

“People have to be much more literate about science and technology,” says Martin, adding that it is therefore imperative that students receive “adequate and high quality exposure” to those fields.

Jacobsen also says a primary challenge for the Core is the need for universality in science education, embodied in specific problems like teaching science to non-science concentrators.

“Imagine teaching, in one semester, an English class to someone who doesn’t know the language,” says Jacobsen. “So how to teach a self-contained [science] Core class that goes into enough depth to make it interesting?”

Question Everything

Beyond the Core, the consensus among those participating in the curricular review seems to be that any issue connected to undergraduate education is fair game.

Issues that are fundamental to the undergraduate experience—from student-faculty relationships to the balance between academics and extracurricular activities—will be analyzed for advantages, drawbacks and potential improvements.

“In our big kickoff meeting, Kirby told everyone to not think about the restraints and difficulty of getting stuff actually accomplished,” says Stefan T. Patrikis ’06, a member of the Committee on General Education.

That sentiment echoes Rosovsky’s request to the Faculty more than 25 years ago, when he asked that they not concern themselves overly with logistics, but with what they want to see implemented.

And although no one has a clear-cut agenda, members of the committees—and others in the Harvard community—say that there are certain central themes they would like addressed. The issue of student-faculty contact is one such area.

“I’d like to see the two pieces of faculty lives—research and teaching—as integrated as possible, to best help our students,” says Cohen.

She says she also feels there is a need for a change in certain aspects of the “culture” at Harvard as it concerns student-faculty relationships and how they affect academic choices. She says she sees too many students, often job-seeking or graduate school-hunting juniors and seniors, who have never gotten to know a faculty member.

“Learning doesn’t just happen in a lecture format,” says Cohen. “I start to see students avoiding smaller courses. We need to have a culture [in the College] where students feel comfortable in that environment.”

Another issue that will receive scrutiny is the balance between academics and extracurriculars and how to achieve one that allows for variety, dedication and time to sleep.