Students Decry Limited History Offerings

When new Assistant Professor of History Ellen Fitzpatrick taught her first regular course at Harvard this week, the registrar expected the class would fill a 12-person seminar room in Sever Hall.

Instead, more than 100 undergraduates jostled for space Monday morning for History 1611, "Politics, Society, and Culture in 20th Century America," before course leaders moved to a larger room.

Inconvenience, crowding and frustration have greeted many History concentrators this week, as a set of faculty leaves has cut course offerings in the department's American wing by one-fourth.

In all, 18 American history courses are scheduled for undergraduates this year, down from 23 last year, according to the course catalog. Only seven are scheduled for this fall, compared with 12 last fall.

"I'm not even going to bother picking any American history courses for this fall," said Jenifer J. Curhan '90, a History concentrator. Curhan, who is shopping for a course on the American Revolution, said she could not find one at the College this semester.

Limited Course Selection

"There are a few courses on social history and one on women's history" this fall, she said. Curhan, who spent last year at Oxford University in London, said she left partly because of the paucity of Harvard courses that related to her academic interests.

A teaching fellow, who asked to remain anonymous, said he has heard several complaints about limited course selection. He said the problem stems in part from Harvard's policy of allowing professors to design courses that they teach, rather than requiring a standard list of courses to be taught.

The fellow, who has been at Harvard for six years, added, "History courses are well known for having brackets."

Professors contacted yesterday attributed the problem to a one-year surge in faculty leave-taking. Four History professors are absent this semester, according to the course catalog: Dunwalke Associate Professor Drew R. McCoy, Assistant Professor Thomas A. Schwartz, Warren Professor David Herbert Donald and Bliss Professor John Womack, Jr. McCoy is due to return this spring.

Also, the department has no visiting professors this year; last year, it had four, said Laura Johnson, a department staff assistant.

Faculty members added it was too early to gauge whether overcrowding would become a problem this semester. Allen Steinberg, assistant professor of History and Social Studies, said in any event, sectioning might even proceed more smoothly since fewer courses are offered.

Coordination Difficulties

But he added that faculty members tend to focus closely on their own courses and pay less attention to the breadth of department offerings.

Winthrop Professor of History Stephan A. Thernstrom said the limited course offerings were unfortunate, but said it is difficult for the department to coordinate faculty leaves.