VES Enrollment Rate Declines by Half

The number of students choosing to concentrate in Visual and Environmental Studies has dropped by 50 percent over the past two years, and the department's administrators offer little explanation for the plummeting enrollment.

According to the estimates of VES Head Tutor Kathleen Chaudhry, there are 30 VES concentrators in the class of '94, but only 15 in the class of '96.

In interviews yesterday, students attributed the rapidly dropping numbers to Faculty of Arts and Sciences apathy towards the department.

"Harvard just does not seem to take the department very seriously," says ex-concentrator Ann M. Sullivan '96. Sullivan officially changed her concentration from VES to Biology last week.

"I think that the name of the department is indicative of the University's attitude," Sullivan adds. "It's like they're ashamed of having an art department so they slapped a misleading label on it."

Sullivan says one indication of University neglect is the inadequate facilities provided for VES classes.

For example, an oil-painting class was conducted in a classroom on the top floor of Sever Hall last semester. The room was inadequately ventilated and many students suffered health problems from the painting materials' toxic fumes.

Sullivan says she left the department because she didn't want to spend two more years in a concentration that is not a top academic priority for the University.

"I felt very frustrated, like I had to leave because the University doesn't care enough about VES and its students," she says. "They just don't care as much about VES as they do about, for example, the sciences."

The Faculty at least tacitly recognized problems in VES last year when Dean for Undergraduate Education Lawrence Buell convened an outside evaluation committee and commissioned a reporton the department's status. But administratorshave declined to discuss the report or itsrecommendations.

A semester after the report was presented toDean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles, studentssay they've seen little change in the way Harvardmarginalizes art.

But some students say Harvard is loss to blamethan the VES department itself.

Cox, who last year enrolled in the introductorycourse VES 1, says he decided not to join thedepartment after taking that class.

"I felt like I was grinding my gears for nopurpose," Cox says. "It was almost like ananti-art class, which is okay if that's thepurpose."

"But I don't think that's the purpose andthat's certainly not what I expected going intothe class," he adds.

Cox says VES 1 was designed to introducestudents to the different mediums through whichart can be created.

But the charges that the art that resulted was"not meant to please either [the students] or theprofessor, and it didn't."

"It was sort of like a semester of building ourown Rorschach blots and then talking about it withthe professor," Cox says. "What was consideredgood use of the medium in which we were workingwas very arbitrary."

Despite the eroding enrollment, departmentChair Alfred F. Guzzetti says the actions of thedepartment have nothing to do with the drop.

Guzzetti says the department has added moresmall studio courses to its offerings. But he saysthis move was designed to expand, not detractfrom, the appeal of the department.

The number of VES concentrators has always beensomewhat limited by the department's admissionsrules, which require an application. But theadmissions process offers no explanation for therecent decline; the percentage of applicantsadmitted has remained steady over the past twoyears, Guzzetti says.

The department is losing concentrators fasterthan it can gain new ones. By the time VES seniorsgraduate in June, concentrators could number asfew as 40.

"I would speculate that fewer students areapplying to a field like art because of theirconcern for prospects in the American economy,"Guzzetti says.

But students question whether drastic economicchanges have actually occurred in the last twoyears. And they also say economic changes wouldprobably not drive the decisions of prospectiveart concentrators.

"If people want to do art they'll probably doit--unless they can't because of a deficientprogram," Sullivan says. "Every other lvy Leagueschool has a better art department than we do, andwe don't even call ours art, or anything remotelyresembling art," Sullivan adds.

Sullivan says she entered the department withreservations because of its reputation and limitedcourse offerings.

"I knew when I came to Harvard that it wasn'tthe greatest art department, but I wanted to tryit anyway," she says.

Sullivan says Harvard's lack of commitment toVES has led to a department that doesn't attractstudents. As a result, the University pays littleattention to VES.

It's a vicious cycle, she says. "You don't cometo Harvard to major in art," Sullivan adds, "andif you're artistic and do come to Harvard, youjust don't major in art."

"This leads to a campus where there are fewerand fewer artistically inclined people, which isfunny because the University talks so much abouttrying to be a diverse community," she says

A semester after the report was presented toDean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles, studentssay they've seen little change in the way Harvardmarginalizes art.

But some students say Harvard is loss to blamethan the VES department itself.

Cox, who last year enrolled in the introductorycourse VES 1, says he decided not to join thedepartment after taking that class.

"I felt like I was grinding my gears for nopurpose," Cox says. "It was almost like ananti-art class, which is okay if that's thepurpose."

"But I don't think that's the purpose andthat's certainly not what I expected going intothe class," he adds.

Cox says VES 1 was designed to introducestudents to the different mediums through whichart can be created.

But the charges that the art that resulted was"not meant to please either [the students] or theprofessor, and it didn't."

"It was sort of like a semester of building ourown Rorschach blots and then talking about it withthe professor," Cox says. "What was consideredgood use of the medium in which we were workingwas very arbitrary."

Despite the eroding enrollment, departmentChair Alfred F. Guzzetti says the actions of thedepartment have nothing to do with the drop.

Guzzetti says the department has added moresmall studio courses to its offerings. But he saysthis move was designed to expand, not detractfrom, the appeal of the department.

The number of VES concentrators has always beensomewhat limited by the department's admissionsrules, which require an application. But theadmissions process offers no explanation for therecent decline; the percentage of applicantsadmitted has remained steady over the past twoyears, Guzzetti says.

The department is losing concentrators fasterthan it can gain new ones. By the time VES seniorsgraduate in June, concentrators could number asfew as 40.

"I would speculate that fewer students areapplying to a field like art because of theirconcern for prospects in the American economy,"Guzzetti says.

But students question whether drastic economicchanges have actually occurred in the last twoyears. And they also say economic changes wouldprobably not drive the decisions of prospectiveart concentrators.

"If people want to do art they'll probably doit--unless they can't because of a deficientprogram," Sullivan says. "Every other lvy Leagueschool has a better art department than we do, andwe don't even call ours art, or anything remotelyresembling art," Sullivan adds.

Sullivan says she entered the department withreservations because of its reputation and limitedcourse offerings.

"I knew when I came to Harvard that it wasn'tthe greatest art department, but I wanted to tryit anyway," she says.

Sullivan says Harvard's lack of commitment toVES has led to a department that doesn't attractstudents. As a result, the University pays littleattention to VES.

It's a vicious cycle, she says. "You don't cometo Harvard to major in art," Sullivan adds, "andif you're artistic and do come to Harvard, youjust don't major in art."

"This leads to a campus where there are fewerand fewer artistically inclined people, which isfunny because the University talks so much abouttrying to be a diverse community," she says