It differs sharply from its predecessor, the General Education (Gen Ed) system introduced in 1949.

Originally, Gen Ed required that students take two courses in each of three academic areas: the humanities, the social sciences and the natural sciences. This was in addition to the Expository Writing (Expos) requirement and a stringent four-semester in-residence language requirement.

In the 1950s and 1960s, however, students demanded more courses dealing with contemporary issues, such as the structure of the American political system and energy development.

In addition, by the beginning of the 1970s, the Faculty had voted to officially allow students to count departmental courses for Gen Ed credit, a move which some say “diluted” the system.

This opened the door to the current Core, a version of which then-Dean of the Faculty Henry A. Rosovsky introduced to professors on Feb. 23, 1978.

But the road to the Core’s implementation was rocky.

The specific areas of the Core were fiercely debated for months among so many faculty that many faculty meetings had to be moved into larger quarters in the Science Center.

A revised version of the new curriculum came to a vote on May 2, when the Faculty adopted the Core in a landslide vote of 182-65.

The version the faculty accepted that day was made up of 10 Core areas: Literature, Fine Arts, Music and Contexts of Culture, Historical Orientation, Historical Process and Perspective, Social Analysis, Moral and Political Philosophy, Physical Science and Mathematics, Biological and Behavioral Science, and either Western Europe (including language) or a major non-Western culture.

Since its inception the Core has been somewhat streamlined.

The original 10 Core areas have become the current seven disciplines—Foreign Cultures, Historical Studies, Literature and Arts, Moral Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Science and Social Analysis.

Students of the College when the Core was born were required to take one class in each of eight out of 10 Core areas, whereas students today must take one class in seven out of the 11 Core areas.

ROTTEN TO THE CORE?

Given the longevity of the Core, it seems natural that some feel it is growing stale.

Many professors and students welcome the possibility of a change to general education at Harvard, complaining that the Core limits student choice.