Faculty Discusses Concentrations

Professors challenged proposed “secondary fields” and course caps on concentrations as the Faculty debated a recently released Curricular Review report for a second consecutive meeting yesterday.

The Educational Policy Committee (EPC) report, which deals with changes to concentration structure, was released to pointed criticism prior to last month’s Faculty meeting. In response, committee member David I. Laibson told professors yesterday that his group had abandoned a recommendation to force concentrations to trim their requirements down to no more than 12 courses.

“We recognize that a one-size-fits-all rule is not an appropriate way to proceed,” he said.

Laibson, an economics professor, also backtracked on the committee’s initial proposal to eliminate all joint concentrations in favor of secondary fields—akin to minors—and said that many popular joint concentrations would stay intact under the recommended system.

The EPC report is one of seven being released as part of the ongoing Harvard College Curricular Review. Some elements of the review may come to a full Faculty vote as early as January, Secretary of the Faculty David S. Fithian said last month, depending on how quickly professors can reach some agreement on the review’s wide-ranging recommendations.

Introducing yesterday’s discussion, Laibson told professors the EPC “will continue working until our proposal has the support of the overwhelming majority of the Faculty.”

But the Faculty has not yet reached a consensus. A half-dozen professors continued to air doubts on key elements of EPC’s report yesterday, posing sharp questions about the logistics behind secondary fields and how changes in concentration structure would affect senior theses and advising.

Professor of Romance Languages and Literature Virginie Greene said that secondary fields might lead more students to “crowd” the most popular concentrations and leave any exploration of smaller departments for a minor.

Laibson disagreed, however, pointing to the EPC’s recommendation that concentration choice be delayed until the middle of sophomore year. This would give students less encouragement to “default” to courses in popular departments, he said.

“I actually think these proposals will create more interest and activity in smaller concentrations,” he said.

Dillon Professor of International Affairs Jorge I. Domínguez criticized changes to the joint concentration system, arguing that even if popular joint concentrations remain intact, the EPC needs to allow for joint concentrations that may arise as a result of new interdisciplinary research.

Laibson emphasized that the secondary fields are a “superset” that would include any joint concentrations that interest students, without the restrictions imposed by the joint thesis requirement.

Several professors asked how caps on concentration requirements would alter departmental honors, which are now often based on the quantity of courses a student has taken and whether or not he has written a thesis.

Laibson responded that the EPC’s policy on honors is still “in flux.”

“Better now you ask us questions and we take notes, than we try to assert a position because we don’t have one,” he said.

The 100 or so Faculty members in attendance at the meeting yesterday also heard a report from Theda Skocpol as she enters her first year as dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Skocpol reiterated her commitment to full funding of graduate students in order to remain competitive with graduate programs at other schools. She emphasized that funding will continue regardless of how the curricular review changes the demand for graduate student teaching fellows.

“[Dean of the Faculty William C.] Kirby stands behind this with all the force of the mighty FAS budget,” Skocpol said, drawing guffaws from the crowd in University Hall’s Faculty Room.

Professors who spoke in response to Skocpol’s remarks were universally supportive of her position on graduate student funding.

“This is the most dumbfoundingly sensible proposal I’ve heard in quite some time,” said Philip A. Kuhn, the Higginson Professor of history and of East Asian languages and civilizations.

—Staff writer Sara E. Polsky can be reached at polsky@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Anton S. Troianovski can be reached at atroian@fas.harvard.edu.