Year in Review

THE GREAT HALL

The recent cry to "Save the Union" just doesn't have the same ring it did in 1861. This new, dignified civil war has arisen at the outcry of a handful of alumni...over the proposed renovations to the Great Hall of the Freshman Union.... The University is practical and modern in its need for greater office space to house its humanities departments.... The issue at hand is simply a misunderstanding between those who value the past and those who value the future.

PUBLIC SERVICE DEAN

The appointment of Judith H. Kidd as assistant dean for public service comes as a shock and a rebuff to students involved with public service at the College.... The decision rejects the opinions of some of the most knowledgeable people on campus in the field of public service--the student and non-student directors of Phillips Brooks House Association, Inc. (PBHA).... [Kidd] is a vice president of Boston's City Year program who has never led an organization similar to PBHA.... We believe PBHA must seize this opportunity to begin raising funds for its eventual withdrawal from University financial support.

GENERAL EXAMS

When the Government Department decided to eliminate general exams as a requirement for an honors degree, we sighed but thought it was an aberration. When the History Department followed suit, however, we realized this was no isolated incident but an unfortunate trend.... We regret that two of Harvard's largest departments, in trying to make their requirements more palatable to students, are diluting their curricula.

'FIRST-YEAR'

Dean of First-Years Elizabeth Studley Nathans. Office of the Dean of First-Years. First-Year Orientation Week. The First-Year Mixer. We admit that these constructions...may not be entirely aesthetically pleasing. Yet they would make an important statement: that Harvard is committed enough to gender equality and neutrality to go through the trouble of changing its phone books and stationery.

REORGANIZING RADCLIFFE

Radcliffe will separate into two organizations in July.... In this reorganization, Radcliffe will be more powerful by focusing its energies more on what students and graduates need and what they can provide.... We...regret that a college which has had such a rich history in promoting the education of women will be disbanded, but the future is more important than tradition in this case.

INTERNET ETIQUETTE

Dan A. Simons '99 received a forceful backlash when he misused Harvard's e-mail resources to mass-mail an advertisement for an a cappella concert.... While Simons' mailing may have been an innocent mistake, it serves as a reminder of how fragile the Internet is.... If individuals cannot regulate their own actions, then a higher power will inevitably step in, and in doing so will decrease the value of the 'Net to all users.

CORE REFORM

Core Curriculum reform is not shaping up to be the substantive overhaul that is needed to properly educate Harvard undergraduates.... Fortunately, the Core Review Committee seems to be moving in [the direction of departmental bypasses]. However, we feel it is not moving far enough. According to...one of the two student members of the eight-person committee, the end result of the year-long examination may be no more than "a less monolithic Core more amenable to departmental bypasses."

ADVISING NETWORK

We...support the recent efforts of Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 to improve the College's advising system by reinstating the dormant Committee on Advising and Counseling.... Good academic advising is long overdue at Harvard.... [Mean-while], any effective solution to the lack of psychological advising on campus has to involve the extension of the professional services of University Health Services.... It is our hope that in this case Lewis listens to the members of the committee.

ALCOHOL POLICY

The administration recently issued a well-intentioned letter urging student leaders to use their positions to help reduce the use of alcohol by underage students.... Obviously, the administration is concerned about the health and well-being of its students, and we appreciate this.... But because a heavy-handed University crackdown on consumption would make the situation worse, we feel that a more effective policy would be for the administration to remain deliberately lenient in the enforcement of guidelines regarding the use of alcohol by underage students.... Students [would] be more likely to remain on campus when they drink,... [and] this policy may help to remove the stigma that makes alcohol so tempting and dangerous.

ETHNIC STUDIES

Ethnic studies is...limited and is not a methodology in its own right. There are many ways to study ethnicity, and Harvard offers students the resources to explore race and ethnicity through its existing departments, and the flexibility to construct an interdisciplinary program where appropriate.... The Faculty is divided primarily by the approaches they take to their studies, not to their subject matter as such.... [Students] should not call for a new discipline when there is no need for one.

RUDENSTINE'S FEW WORDS

President Neil L. Rudenstine is always ready to make a public appearance, but it is rare that he takes the opportunity to seriously address the Harvard community. The annual reports of his predecessor, Derek C. Bok, became an institution among students and faculty.... Over his first years at Harvard, Rudenstine has shown his dedication to managing the daily duties of the presidency. Now it is time for him to go further--to be frank about the past and to offer the community his vision for the University's future.

LEWIS'REPORT CARD

By any measure, Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 has had a trying semester: public service, alcohol policy and randomization have hung as albatrosses around his neck. As Lewis' second semester begins, he would do well to keep in mind the wishes of his primary constituency--his students--more than he has [in the fall] semester, although not to the detriment of decisions he believes crucial to the sound future of the College. And he should soften the edges of his terse communiques, termed brusque and blunt by many who have had frequent contact with him.

LOKER COMMONS

When the ground was broken almost a year ago on the renovations to Memorial Hall, we rejoiced that a new student center was to be included in the historic Ware and Van Brunt building. When Loker Commons opened its doors in the fall term, we weren't disappointed.... The well-designed pine-stained study nooks ensure students a high degree of privacy, while the open areas...are great places to mix and mingle with fellow students, hold informal meetings and grab a quick bite to eat.

YALE'S UNION WORKERS

For the past four years, Yale University has been continually struggling with a group of graduate teaching assistants who wish to unionize. The group, which calls itself the Graduate Employees and Students Organization (GESO), can't seem to decide whether it is composed of students or employees. We think it is clear that graduate students are students, and GESO has no right to unionize.

CIVIL WAR MEMORIAL

The recent Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) ad hoc committee proposal recommending a Civil War memorial [in Memorial Hall] including the names of Confederate soldiers disturbs us on both philosophical and practical counts. We believe the idea of memorializing Confederate soldiers represents a troubling historical amnesia.

ROTC RITES

The Undergraduate Council's recent recommendation to Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 to move the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) commissioning ceremony at Commencement off campus is misguided and overwrought. We understand the council's reasons: leaving it on campus could be construed as a violation of the University's non-discriminatory policy. Yet holding the ceremony off campus ignores the importance of ROTC to participants' college experiences.

FACULTY MEETINGS

The last few Faculty meetings have had their share of unexpected drama.... Several members of the Undergraduate Council have used these meetings to practice their oratory on the more than 150 Faculty members present without bothering to go through the customary channels first. While we encourage council members to fight hard on behalf of students, speaking out at meetings of the Faculty is not the best way to get the attention of the administration.