ACADEMICS IN QUESTION
Absent from the Faculty Meeting agenda was a presentation by the Committee on Academic Integrity, which was expected to offer a series of proposals, including a modified honor code, for faculty discussion.
Nevertheless, the issue came up during question period when mathematics professor Wilfried Schmid asked administrators if Harvard has allowed pre-professional interests to overshadow its traditional academic culture.
Citing a Crimson magazine article on the decline of academics at Harvard, Schmidt further wondered whether the intrinsic value of education has been diluted by overemphasizing metrics such as Q scores and easy grading.
Faust said that these questions have already spawned a number of conversations and have influenced the agenda of the Committee on Academic Integrity. Still, she added that all members of the University community need to do a better job reaffirming the importance of academics for their own sake.
“It behooves all of us to think how we as an institution can think about the process of learning, not just the outcomes—the way the act of engaging with academic materials reflects what matters so much to all of us,” Faust said.
Specific proposals from the Committee on Academic Integrity, including a modified honor code, are expected to be formally introduced next month.
—Staff writer Nicholas P. Fandos can be reached at nicholasfandos@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @npfandos.
—Staff writer Sabrina A. Mohamed can be reached at smohamed@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @sab_mohamed.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
CORRECTION: March 6, 2013
Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this article misquoted Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith as saying, “we’re not working hard enough to recognize women and underrepresented faculty to get them into our tenure tracks.” In fact, Smith expressed concern that in some areas Harvard may not be working hard enough “to recognize women and underrepresented minorities to get them into our applicant pools for our tenure-track positions.”