Both deans said that the complexity of the curriculum, particularly the core, has led to problems in advising and pedagogy.

During the discussion, many students said the best advising they had had was within Kirkland itself, and not through their concentrations.

Kirkland HoCo Parliamentarian Arie Hasit ’05 said his 15-student concentration didn’t even know he was on campus this semester.

Others said that excessive requirements can frustrate students.

“I think having a lot of requirements makes a lot of problems for students,” said Lindsay Crouse ’06, the Kirkland HoCo Secretary. “Why not just let students pursue their own interests?”

Dean Gross said that though undergraduate requirements may be heavy—students often graduate at the level of second-year graduate students, he said—the curriculum should have structure.

“Unfortunately, my son goes to Brown,” Gross quipped, and the room erupted in laughter. “The curriculum there was designed by a student. We need to have some guidance by the faculty.”

While students complained about requirements for language citations and joint concentrations, several said the tutorial program was successful.

“I feel like it was the writing I learned in tutorial that was the most important,” said Zachary Z Norman ’04, who is also a Crimson editor.

Several students talked about pressure to choose concentrations to get good grades—what one student called an effort to “beat the curve”—tying the stress of the high-stakes atmosphere at Harvard to problems with mental health on campus.

Student opinion at the meeting was divided over an idea Gross pitched involving making all first-year courses pass-fail, like the system currently in place at MIT.

“I think that would be really good for the mental health of freshmen,” said HoCo chair Adam Kalamchi ’05. “The College could force students to really collect themselves that year.”

Some students said that increasing the flexibility of the curriculum—from requirements to grades—would encourage risk taking and make the College more satisfying for students.

“I know that for me, the courses I do the worst in are the ones I learn the most in, and the courses I do the best in are the ones I learn the least in,” said Joseph K. Green ’05, who sits on the curricular review committee for pedagogy.

Apart from increasing the flexibiltiy of the curriculum to encourage faculty-student interaction and risk-taking, the College calendar—which is currently under review—drew the most heated response.