Looking Ahead...

The College has come a long way during my first ten years, but....

So started President Bok at the annual gathering of the Associated Harvard Alumni last week. Speaking before an audience of more than 300 at the Business School, Bok commemorated his tenth anniversary by outlining a five-point plan for improving the College during the coming years in areas ranging from academics to social responsibility. Among them:

Computer technology. Although he said computers won't replace people, Bok advocated increasing their usage in academics--especially in mathematics, languages, and economics--as well as in other aspects of students' lives, such as advising and health services.

Careful reasoning and analysis. Calling the dearth of this "the most serious defect of undergraduate education everywhere," Bok said the College should do more to improve students' reasoning abilities. The undergraduate curriculum should include more opportunities for active student involvement--which sections and tutorials provide more than do large lectures, Bok said.

Student-faculty contact. Students here have all kinds of opportunities to get to know faculty members, but some students just don't have enough "brass" to strike the contact, Bok said. In order to combat "the traditional Achilles heel of Harvard," Bok said professors should get more involved in House life, teach more students as research assistants.

International evolution. First Harvard grew from a local to a national college, and now it is becoming international, Bok said. "We have to think more about recruitment of students all over the world," Bok said, also citing a need for continued emphasis on foreign cultures in the undergraduate curriculum.

Social responsibility. Students need to develop a greater sense of social responsibility for those "less fortunate than themselves," Bok said, adding that the private sector will have to become more socially concerned as the influence of government declines. The College can help by creating more volunteer opportunities through programs based at Philips Brooks House and the Houses, he said.

Bok noted a tendency to become completely engrossed in financial problems--such as student aid, professors' salaries, and renovation of the Houses--and cautioned against letting them detract attention from areas which he said "don't cost so much money."