Article on History Department Was Tired, Recycled Bashing

With regard to your recent story about the history department ("Searching for Faculty," page three, April 29, 1994): as I tried to explain to your reporter over the telephone, the number of course offerings in American history has not substantially changed this year, and has been rising steadily since the 1970s or whenever the Golden Age of History was supposed to have been.

Not counting Core courses, we offered 22 American courses in 1979, 26 courses in 1984, 27 courses in 1989, and 32 courses in 1994, the highest number ever in Harvard's history.

I'm sorry Ms. [Alexandra G.] Guisinger ['94] was unable to find more courses in African history, but since we have a faculty-concentrator ratio of 2:1 in African history, I hope she won't think we're unreasonable in not hiring more staff to give he all the courses she might want.

I thought that when [former Crimson President Rebecca L.] Walkowitz ['92] left we'd stop getting all these "History: Department in Crisis" articles. But I guess it's too easy to recycle a story once you have it on computer.

The reference to good old Alan Brinkley (flourit 1987) is a dead giveaway. Could any Harvard undergraduate pick him out of a police lineup? Doubt it. I confidently expect still to be hearing about old Alan as one of History's missed opportunities when I retire in 2025. Dear old fellow! Good old Crimson! So jolly dependable!

As for our declining enrollments: true they have been declining . So have those of all the humanities departments except African-American Studies and Women's Studies.

We have lost almost half our concentrators in the last five years, but so have Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Germanic, and Slavic languages. Literature, Religion, and History and Literature have lost nearly a third, and most other humanities departments have registered losses.

In the same five-year period, the Biology department has nearly doubled in size. In fact, there has been a move of nearly 400 undergraduates out of humanities into sciences.

Yo! Crimson, I've an idea for you: instead of the annual computer-generated History-bashing article, ritually timed to coincide with first-year declaration period, how about giving your readers a scoop on a real story: why Harvard students are moving into the sciences.

I'll even give you a hint: you'll find the answer in the Admissions Office. Good luck trying to get straight story out of them. James Hankins   Head Tutor   History Department