The report maintained that because of Yale's primary object of graduating well-educated and well-rounded men, it should continue to require all of its students to follow a single thorough curriculum, with Latin and Greek literature at its core.
Before the release of the report, there was a gradual movement toward a more open, elective course of study at colleges around the United States.
[1][2] According to the Yale Daily News, the report was released "as the University's reputation was at its zenith", when "the eyes of the nation's academic community focused on New Haven".
The report acknowledges that changes to the curriculum "may, from time to time be made with advantage, to meet the varying demands of the community, to accommodate the course of instruction to the rapid advance of the country, in population, refinement, and opulence", but argued for a prescribed set of courses that all students should meet: By endorsing a prescribed course of study, the Yale faculty denounced the concept of preparing its undergraduates for specific professional work.
Despite this concession, the faculty committee's report strongly praised "the course which has hitherto been pursued", and, in fact, aimed to strive to make the curriculum even more focused on classical studies.