Word: redbook
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Clearly, Rosovsky is determined to produce another Redbook. But in a departure from Conant's example, he has consciously chosen not to hinge his magnum opus on the work of a prestigious group of wise men. "We avoided that from the very beginning, we don't operate that way," Rosovsky says, even though he specifically mentioned creating a "blue-ribbon" panel in his February 1974 announcement. By creating the task forces, Rosovsky says, he hoped to gather as many ideas as possible ("they are one of the hardest things to get") and to develop a broad base of support...
...seven task forces "The Yellow Pages" set in motion, the core curriculum panel faces perhaps the most challenging assignment. It must, in effect, pass judgment on the Redbook itself and come to some conclusion as to the general education foundation erected here after...
Wilson says he has been struck at the panel's bi-weekly meetings by the members' willingness to "take a fresh look" at the value of a core curriculum. While all the members of his panel are mindful of the Redbook, which is mandatory reading, they "do not feel bound by it or bound to challenge it," Wilson says. Yet such openmindedness creates tactical problems, Wilson adds; the task force must also pay attention to the politics of feasibility. It has to, he says, perform the "perplexing tightrope act of balancing daring proposals against possible restraints on their implementation...
...moved into final debate on such questions as the fate of elite majors and the shape of the general guidelines the panel will recommend for concentrations. While the task force will not take on the Faculty establishment by proposing the abolition of concentrations and a return to the pre-Redbook electives system, it will inevitably encroach on the traditionally autonomous Harvard departments...
Despite the confusion, Rosovsky remains confident that the panels will finalize their proposals by the end of the year, in time for an intensive, summer-long effort to compile and distill a Rosovsky Redbook. Rosovsky says he hopes to be ready to offer his specific recommendations to the Faculty next fall and at the same time to complete a philosphical declaration, which he does not expect the Faculty to vote on. "One does not legislate exhortation. Whatever statement we make is not something to vote on. The actual legislation may be dry, but it must fit into some scheme," Rosovsky...