Photo by mathoov, courtesy flickr

The Harvard University campus

Send a letter to the Editor

Save to Del.icio.us Digg this

According to a report issued by 19 advisers appointed by Harvard president Drew Faust in November 2007, the university should fund degrees in writing, theater, sculpture, and other artistic disciplines. The report urged Harvard to move forward with the new funding even in light of the current financial crisis and recent losses to the school's endowment.

“If Harvard is to continue to be a place where dreams are born and exciting collaborations push the boundaries of knowledge, it must do more to include the practice of the arts,” Faust said in a statement.

The advisers also proposed new undergraduate courses, the renovation of buildings devoted to the arts, the addition of more artists to the university faculty, and discounting student tickets to arts events.

Some recommendations may be implemented as soon as January, according to a university spokesman, though he did not specify which ones.