The Senior Tutor advises students in the House on academic and personal matters and represents House members at the Administrative Board. They may in some cases serve as concentration advisers to the undergraduates, and they also fill a variety of administrative roles in the House. Faculty members, administrators, Cambridge community members, and visiting scholars are eligible for affiliation with the individual Houses and comprise the Senior Common Room. Participation in a Senior Common Room affords individuals the opportunity not only to meet people from other departments but also to make contact with undergraduates in the casual atmosphere of the House dining rooms or at the varied House functions. By Faculty vote, undergraduates must pass one letter-graded course in eight of the eleven areas of the Core Curriculum.
All students are exempt from three area requirements on the basis of their field of concentration.
The specific definitions and guidelines of each area may be found in the Core Program section of Courses of Instruction. The Core is administered by a Standing Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and by subcommittees representing each of the major Core areas. Services shared by all nine faculties of the University such as food services, health services, police, fiscal services, and facilities maintenance are admin- istered by the Office of the President. For further discussion of this point see the Handbook for Students which provides extensive discussion of the procedures of the Administrative Board. Detailed information on the Core Requirement as well as all other requirements for the bachelor's degree can be found in the Handbook for Students.