One recommendation would shift Harvard to a Yale-style housing system in which first-years are assigned to their Houses before entering the College and live in entryways affiliated with their upperclass dorms.
The report cited the improvement of first-year advising by bringing the new undergraduates into more contact with upperclass students as one goal of this proposal.
Mahan said that though there are benefits to the move, more research is necessary.
He noted decreased “student choice” through the elimination of blocking groups as one concern with the plan.
Other recommendations concerning first-years would see the expansion of the Freshman Seminar Program to accommodate the entire freshman class by the 2006-2007 academic year, as well as the requirement that all first-years enroll in a “small-group, faculty-led seminar, such as a Freshman Seminar or its equivalent.”
FITTING IN
Initial responses to the curricular review report from students and Faculty spanned the gamut.
Mahan said he was disappointed that advising and teaching were not given more priority in the report.
“Most students would agree that the quality of teaching at Harvard is as problematic as the current arrangement of the Core,” he said.
“It’s frustrating for me not to see administrators go to bat for us when it comes to improving teaching,” he said.
Mahan added that overall he thought the report should have been more innovative.
Several Faculty also have noted that the proposal breaks little ground, noticing that elements of the proposed curriculum such as the distribution requirement and concentration delay resembling curricula at other schools—especially that of Yale.
Mansfield said he did not find this similarity problematic.
“We shouldn’t fear to imitate it because Yale does it,” he said.
Kishlansky said that while he had “endless confidence in Dean Kirby,” he considered the standardization of the Harvard curriculum problematic.
“I do think that [Harvard has] always offered a distinctive education, and the more homogenized education becomes, the less students have to choose from,” he said.
—Staff writer William C. Marra can be reached at wmarra@fas.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Sara E. Polsky can be reached at polsky@fas.harvard.edu.