Moving the College’s fall term exams before winter break and creating a centralized “Office of Advising” were among the few specific proposals mentioned on Dec. 16, when leaders of the College’s curricular review briefed the full Faculty for the first time on their progress since the review began last summer.

The presenters, representing the four committees leading the review, focused instead on reiterating broad goals, from increasing the emphasis on international experience to revamping the general education system, and described the task forces they had formed to assist them in tackling specific issues.

Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby said in an interview before the meeting that the process is still in the brainstorming phase.

“The idea now is not to set up trial balloons that can be shot down, but to put out ideas,” Kirby said.

Some professors have complained that the review lacks an overarching goal.

During a brief discussion period at the end of the meeting, Kenan Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield ’53 said he felt the speakers hadn’t given the Faculty much of an idea of where the inquiry was headed.

“No big theme emerged. I couldn’t tell what the faculty thought was wrong with our present curriculum,” Mansfield said. “What is the idea behind the curriculum? To know that, you would have to start out with what’s wrong with the curriculum.”

But Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71, who is spearheading the review, said the aim of the meeting was simply to increase transparency to ensure that every faculty member who was interested would know what was going on.

A plan to move the College’s exams before winter break and possibly create a month-long January term caused the most debate following the four presentations.

“We are considering an alternative calendar that would begin fall semester two weeks earlier and finish exams before the holiday break, with a reading period of almost the same length as now,” said Jones Professor of American Studies Lizabeth Cohen, co-chair of the Pedagogy committee. One of her committee’s four task forces is focusing specifically on the structure of the academic calendar.

“Spring semester would begin the same time as it does currently,” Cohen explained. “With a more condensed exam period, Commencement could conceivably be moved up…getting our students out for the summer earlier.”

A revamping of this sort would also make possible a January term of three or four weeks—the “4-1-4” calendar employed at schools like Williams and MIT.

Cohen said students might not be expected to enroll in the January term each year—they could be granted the time to use for thesis work or job-hunting—but that the option of the term could lead to greater flexibility with term-time courses.

“Rest assured that we are fully aware that such a January model would only work if faculty and students alike received full credit for participating,” she said.

But in the comment period, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals Peter J. Gomes worried that such a plan might mean too much of an additional burden on students.