Bok Calls for Calendar Reform Discussion

Interim University President Derek C. Bok opened a University-wide dialogue on calendar reform in a letter to the Harvard community this evening, following months of campaigning by Undergraduate Council (UC) leaders.

“Within the past month, now that the review of undergraduate education is nearing an end,” Bok wrote in his e-mail, “the question of calendar reform has emerged once again.”

Undergraduate President Ryan A. Petersen ’08 praised Bok’s e-mail.

“This is a watershed moment for the undergraduate call for calendar reform,” he said.

The issue of calendar reform was last addressed in 2004 when a University-wide committee, chaired by Pforzheimer University Professor Sidney Verba ’53, recommended coordinating the calendars across all of the University’s individual schools, which included completing the fall semester before winter break.

The 2004 report proposed a “4-1-4” calendar that would consist of two four-month semesters separated by a one-month session.

“I’m glad it’s not dead,” Harvard Law School professor Harry S. Martin ’65, who was on the Verba committee, said about the report.

Bok wrote in today’s letter that the committee’s proposal has received the unanimous support of the deans.

Last week’s UC referendum was endorsed by 84 percent of voting undergraduates. Approximately half of the undergraduate body participated.

“I remain firmly in favor of calendar change,” Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ‘71 wrote in an e-mailed statement earlier this week. “There are pros and cons to any reform, but I think the UC proposal and the Verba report make a good case.”

—Please check www.thecrimson.com for updates throughout the evening.

—Staff writer Laurence H. M. Holland can be reached at lholland@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Madeline W. Lissner can be reached at mlissner@fas.harvard.edu.