But Higginson Professor of History and of East Asian Languages and Civilizations Philip A. Kuhn said that while he recognizes the efforts invested in the curricular review, he does not see how the review could solve the issue of faculty availability.

“Faculty generally enjoy student contact whether individually or in small groups; but despite the admirable Freshman Seminars, I fear that the large-class format is with us for the foreseeable future,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Under the demographics and economics of our present structure, I do not expect the Curricular Review to solve the problem, despite our best intentions.”

With Harvard’s admissions decisions set to be released this week, Director of Undergraduate Admissions Marlyn McGrath Lewis ’70-’73 said that it was too early to tell how the release of the survey data would affect the number of accepted students choosing to enroll at Harvard.

“We hope that students who are about to be admitted to Harvard will consider carefully their choices and will talk to individual students who are here and form their own conclusions,” she said. “When you talk with students who are here, you get a more nuanced picture.”

Summers and Kirby could not be reached for comment yesterday.

—Nicole B.Urken contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Margaret W. Ho can be reached at mwho@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Joshua P. Rogers can be reached at jprogers@fas.harvard.edu.