Harvard committee recommends returning religion to curriculum

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<p>Some big stuff coming out of Harvard's curricular review:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/10/04/harvard.curriculum.ap/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/10/04/harvard.curriculum.ap/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Control of the process has been wrested away from the FAS barons.</p>

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<p>I don't know about that Byerly. It seems to me that the barons have managed to quash a process that initially promised some fairly radical change. What they're now proposing is basically a rehash of the current Core, tweaked and under new names, but essentially the same structure. I suppose it's not surprising, given that the Core was Bok's baby back when I was an undergrad, but in my view disappointing nonetheless. Perhaps the worst news is that they'll be keeping Expos - the bane of freshmen through many generations.</p>

<p>Here's a link to the report for anyone interested:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.fas.harvard.edu/%7Esecfas/Gen_Ed_Prelim_Report.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.fas.harvard.edu/%7Esecfas/Gen_Ed_Prelim_Report.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Btw, my prediction is that "Reason and Faith" gets eliminated, leaving the "new Core" with the exact same number of requirements as the current Core.</p>

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<p><a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=515389%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=515389&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The “Reason and Faith” requirement proposed in the new general education report will not only draw on the College’s existing Comparative Study of Religion for its development but will turn to other departments and the Harvard Divinity School as well, administrators said. </p>

<p>The Committee on the Study of Religion, which currently administers the undergraduate concentration in the comparative study of religion, will be the main unit responding to the new requirement, said Robert A. Orsi, chair of the department. </p>

<p>This task “will stretch our resources,” he said, but other administrators see ways for different outlets to alleviate the strain. </p>

<p>The Committee composed of only 19 faculty members will increase conversations with the Divinity School to help develop the new requirement, Orsi said. Eight of the 19 members are faculty members at the Divinity School. </p>

<p>“I do believe that to respond in good faith to this initiative, we can’t just substitute the same old classes,” said Orsi, who is also the Warren professor of history of religion in America at the Divinity School. “We will be asking Divinity School professors to craft new classes..."</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Eight of the 19 members are faculty members at the Divinity School

[/quote]
</p>

<p>does anyone else think that divinity school faculty members are disproportionately represented?</p>