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Harvard College is the undergraduate section and oldest school of Harvard University , having been founded in 1636. The College is instructed by the Faculty Of Arts And Sciences , which also instructs the Harvard Graduate School Of Arts And Sciences . In accordance with the American norm, the College remains the heart of the University, and people often confuse the two; therefore, see Harvard University for more information relevant to life, academics, etc. at Harvard College. HISTORY The name ''Harvard College'' dates to . circa 1700 overlooking one of the buildings of Harvard College, constituting the earliest known view of a Harvard building]] But no further colleges were founded beside it; and as Harvard began to grant higher degrees in the late eighteenth century, people started to call it "Harvard University." "Harvard College" survived, nonetheless; in accordance with the newly-emerging American usage of the words, it was the undergraduate division of the university—which was not a collection of similar colleges, but a collection of unique schools, each teaching a different subject. Harvard's principal governing board (which happens to be the oldest continuous Corporation in the western hemisphere) still goes by its original name of "The President And Fellows Of Harvard College" even though it has charge of the entire university and the "fellows" today are simply external trustees such as those who govern most American educational bodies—not residential educators like the Fellows of an Oxbridge college. In current Harvard parlance, this governing board is frequently referred to simply as The Harvard Corporation. Harvard College is considered to be one of the top undergraduate colleges in the United States , and admission to it is highly desired. Many traditions around the College exist, including the Superstitious belief that a person who touches the foot of the John Harvard statue during his campus visit is likely to be granted admission. Tour guides estimate that more than a thousand high school students touch the statue each year, the most popular location being the right foot. A few enterprising students kiss the statue, but this is generally not recommended since a popular undergraduate game is to urinate on that foot when being drunk. HOUSE SYSTEM Nearly all students at Harvard College live on campus. First-year students live in Dormitories in or near Harvard Yard (see List Of Harvard Dormitories ). Upperclass students live mainly in a system of twelve residential "Houses", which serve as administrative units of the College as well as dormitories. Each house is presided over by a "Master"—a senior faculty member who is responsible for guiding the social life and community of the House—and a " Senior Tutor ", who acts as Dean of the students in the House in its administrative role. The House system was instituted by Harvard President Abbott Lawrence Lowell in the 1930s, although the number of Houses, their demographics, and the methods by which students are assigned to particular Houses have all changed drastically since the founding of the system. Funds for the Houses were donated by Edward Harkness, a Yale graduate, who had previously failed to persuade Yale of its merits (but which later adopted a very similar "college" system). Lowell modeled it on the system of constituent College s of Oxford and Cambridge , and the Houses borrow terminology from Oxford and Cambridge such as Junior Common Room (the set of undergraduates affiliated with a House) and Senior Common Room (the Master, Senior Tutor, and other faculty members, advisors, and graduate students associated with the House). Non-faculty members of the Senior Common Room of a House are given the title "Tutor". Nine of the Houses are situated south of Harvard Yard, near the busy commercial district of Harvard Square , along or close to the northern banks of the Charles River , and so are known colloquially as the River Houses. These are:
The remainder of the residential Houses are located around Harvard's Quadrangle (or "the Quad", formerly the "Radcliffe Quadrangle"), in a more Suburb an residential neighborhood half a mile (800 m) northwest of Harvard Yard. These housed Radcliffe College students until Radcliffe merged its residential system with Harvard. They are:
There is a thirteenth House, , who signed the charter of Harvard College when he was Governor Of The Massachusetts Bay Colony . Tentative plans have been proposed for expanding the House system using land owned by Harvard in Allston, Massachusetts , across the Charles River from the River Houses. Suggestions include moving the Quadrangle Houses to Allston and building up to eight new Houses there. It has not yet been decided whether any of these proposals will be adopted. Harvard's residential houses are paired with Yale 's residential colleges in sister relationships; see the Harvard-Yale Sister Colleges article for more information. CORE CURRICULUM Harvard requires all undergraduates to fulfill "the core," which requires students to take courses in seven of eleven academic areas (such as Moral Reasoning and Social Analysis); each concentration exempts students from four. In 2006, Harvard announced it would change this policy, making the academic areas broader, although as of this writing it is unclear how and when the system will change. CONCENTRATIONS Majors at Harvard College are known as concentrations. As Of 2005 , Harvard College offered 41 different concentrations:
Joint concentrations with a primary and secondary departmental focus are allowed by many departments provided the student can demonstrate how he/she intends to combine the subjects meaningfully. In April 2006 , as part of a curricular review plan for College students, a Harvard faculty meeting approved for the first time the institution of secondary concentrations, known as Minors at most other schools. Other special concentrations include the Mind/Brain/Behavior Interfaculty Initiative, a certification program in Neuroscience s run jointly by the departments of Anthropology, Biochemical Sciences, Biology, Computer Science, History of Science, Linguistics, Philosophy, and Psychology. In 2005, Harvard College and the New England Conservatory will begin offering a joint 5-year program for a combined Harvard Bachelor's Degree and NEC Master Of Arts . ORGANIZATIONS Harvard has hundreds of student organizations. Every spring there is an "Arts First week", founded by John Lithgow during which arts and culture organizations show off performances, cook meals, or present other work; in 2005 over 40% of students participated in at least one Arts First event. Notable organizations include the daily newspaper The Harvard Crimson , the humor magazine the Harvard Lampoon , the a'cappella groups the Harvard Din & Tonics and the Krokodiloes , the service group Phillips Brooks House , and the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations. Media and campus publications
Community service organizations
Political organizations
Musical groups A cappella groups
Choral groups
Orchestras and bands
Theatrical organizations Harvard blackC.A.S.T. (Community and Student Theater) is Harvard's theater group dedicated to black theatrical production and fostering a black theater community on campus. Past productions include ''Amen Corner'', ''Before it Hits Home'', and ''The Colored Museum.''
Academic Organizations
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