Dear Psychology Colleagues,
If you're like me, you mainly ignore emails about university faculty meetings (like the one below). I've been to a half dozen in 25 years. But this one is important because we will vote on a proposal to move Harvard to a course pre-registration system like the one that nearly every other university uses.
I've attended the meetings at which this proposal was debated and listened to the arguments for and against it, and in my view, the former beat the later by a landslide. The benefits of pre-registration are large and obvious. Nonetheless, most students -- and some faculty -- oppose the proposal because they mistakenly think that students will be losing the freedom to "shop" courses (they won't) and/or that shopping courses is a good way to choose them (it isn't).
It is hard to know whether the proposal is more likely to succeed than to fail, so it is important for everyone who supports it to attend the university faculty meeting tomorrow (May 3 at 3 PM) to cast a vote. The meeting is on zoom, so it is very easy to attend. Just click https://harvard.zoom.us/j/94545673403.
I'm happy to chat with anyone who wants to hear more about the arguments for or against pre-registration, but I didn't want to burden the rest of you with a longer email.
Best, D.
Daniel Gilbert
Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology
Harvard University | Department of Psychology
33 Kirkland Street, William James Hall 254
Cambridge, MA 02138
617.495.3892 | dgilbert(a)fas.harvard.edu
danielgilbert.com | @DanTGilbert
From: Office of the Secretary <offsec(a)fas.harvard.edu>
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2022 12:26 PM
To: fas-voting-faculty-list <fas-voting-faculty-list(a)fas.harvard.edu>
Subject: Agenda for the May 3 regular meeting of the FAS
Dear Members of the Faculty,
We write to announce that the agenda and related materials for the regular meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, which will be held from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. via Zoom at https://harvard.zoom.us/j/94545673403<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__harvard.zoom.us_j_9454…>, are now posted at the website of the Office of the Secretary. You may view the documents by clicking on this link<https://wiki.harvard.edu/confluence/display/secfas/Documents+for+Faculty+Me…> and logging in to the system. The docketed items are as follows:
* a vote on Extension School courses for 2022-2023
* a vote on the preliminary Courses of Instruction for 2022-2023
* a vote on proposed changes to the Handbook for Students for 2022-2023
* a vote on course registration
As a reminder, the motions for these items can be found on the agenda for the meeting. You might wish to review the report on course registration and the responses to it, which can be found by clicking on the link above and going to the documents from the meeting of the Faculty on March 1. The minutes of the March 1 and April 5 meetings of the Faculty, which summarize the Faculty's discussion on course registration to date, can be found by clicking on the same link and going to the documents from April 5 and for Tuesday's meeting.
Access to the meeting will open at 2:45 p.m. You should sign in to your Harvard Zoom account using the "Sign in" button before clicking on the Zoom link above. You might wish to join the meeting early since admittance could be delayed for those arriving close to its start time. Phone access to the meeting will not be available.
Please note that the list of proposed members for the disciplinary committees for 2022-2023 is attached to this message.
We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday.
The Docket Committee
