Task Forces to Deliver Major Report By 1977, Rosovsky Tells 250 Alumni

Dean Rosovsky told an audience of 250 Harvard College Fund representatives Saturday that his task forces to review undergraduate education will present major recommendation to the Faculty by 1977.

Speaking briefly and without a prepared text, Rosovsky said the seven task forces are working on "a broad statement of purpose like the type made 25 years ago in the famous Harvard Red Book."

The Red Book outlines the general education system that Harvard still uses.

Rosovsky said the present general education system "is less tenable today" because recent societal and technological changes have not been integrated into Harvard studies.

"We cannot allow ourselves to peak" and fall behind the progress other universities are making in undergraduate education, Rosovsky said. "Many institutions are snapping at our heels."

The task forces are "my highest priority item," Rosovsky told the members of the Fund Assembly gathered at the Business School's Burden Hall.

Rosovsky selected the seven task forces, on topics ranging from core curriculum to educational resources, last spring. They each are composed of six faculty members, two students, and an administrative staff assistant.

The World in a Decade

The task forces have a difficult job to do, Rosovsky said, because in order for them to make a broad statement of purpose they "need to view the world a decade from now."

As an example of the "very broad issues" the task forces are debating, Rosovsky cited the possibility of requiring students to study different social systems such as those in China, Russia and Africa.

The capitalist system as it exists in the United States, Rosovsky said, "is in the small minority and may be even smaller in the future. Should not some students at Harvard have a greater knowledge of different social systems?"

Rosovsky also cited the possibility of providing students with "a minimal understanding of math" as another example of what the task forces are considering.

"Technology has passed us completely by," Rosovsky said, adding that technological improvements of recent years should be more visible in Harvard's teaching methods.

To maintain the quality of undergraduate education at Harvard, Rosovsky said, greater contributions to the Alumni Fund, which supplies ten per cent of the Faculty's unrestricted income, are needed.

"One cannot teach Mongolian and Chemistry and do it in terms of cost accounting," he said.

Before Rosovsky spoke, Peter F. Clifton '49, Director of the Harvard College Fund, announced a change in the structure of the Harvard College Fund's traditional fund drive.

An Agent From a Class

Clifton said the old area-agent system, in which an agent from one class solicited all alumni in his geographical area, will be scrapped.

Instead, Clifton said, a Fund representative will now solicit his class only, but in larger geographical areas. Clifton said the change will promote "healthier competition" among classes and possibly a "dramatic increase in giving."

The Harvard College Fund failed to reach its goal of $5 million for 1974-75, but still managed to exceed all previous totals with a collection of $4,853,000. The Fund's goal for 1975-76 is $5,250,000.

H-R: Open house at the Office for the Arts, 3-5 p.m., Sept. 29, Agassiz House first floor.    (29