And the point is? If you know what you are doing researching Engineering/computer science schools Harvard wouldn't be top of the list. Off the top of my head MIT, Princeton, and Stanford would certainly rank higher.
Learning C in this class probably does turns students not already planning to major in the subject off programing. 'C' has a longer learning curve than the newer scripting languages. You have to spend more time learning boring basics before you can write anything interesting, and more time debugging. A beginning C class is filled with lots of nitty gritty details. Another comparison point UC Berkley engineering use Python now but until last year used Scheme for this level class. Most of these classes are trying to teach concepts more than details of a computer language. And if a student has already taken a class like AP Computer Science, or have extensive programing experience already they quite likely won't be required to take this class.
