Popular Classes Pose Fire Hazard

Confronted by an absence of available seats, late class shoppers overwhelmed Science Center 309 last Wednesday as they filled every unoccupied corner of the room. Students sat on the floor directly in front of the lecturer and on top of the radiator to hear the first lecture of Math 23a: Theoretical Linear Algebra and Multivariable Calculus I.

According to students in the class, an evacuation of the room in the event of emergency would have proven difficult.

“It would have been a disaster,” said Matthew A. Gline ’06.

Classrooms frequently overflow during shopping period, as many classes attract more students than they predicted. However common, each of these occurrences may be in violation of Cambridge building code and fire safety regulations.

And, though the registrar’s office eventually finds suitable locations for over-enrolled courses, Assistant Dean of Physical Resources for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Michael N. Lichten said that students and faculty must rely on “common sense” to guarantee safety until a new space is found.

To ensure the safe evacuation of everyone in a room in case of emergency, both the Cambridge Inspectional Services Department (ISD) and the Cambridge Fire Department oversee certain state building codes and fire safety regulations.

According to its Assistant Commissioner Mike Nicoloro, ISD issues certificates of inspection which set the maximum number of individuals allowed in an “area of assembly” such as a classroom.

In addition to classrooms filled beyond their regulation capacity, blocked exits also constitute a code violation according to Captain Lawrence Ferazani of the Cambridge Fire Department.

When students sit in the aisles of lecture halls and thereby block those paths, Ferazani said, this may be a violation.

Classes are assigned rooms based on the recommendation of the class’ professor or the Core Office regarding the expected number of students, according to FAS Registrar Arlene F. Becella.

But because the expected number of students and the actual number can differ, overcrowding can occur—Math 23 Preceptor John D. Boller expects an enrollment around 100 students this semester versus the 62 from last fall.

Becella said she expects that some classes will be overcrowded and that some students will be forced to sit on the floor or in the aisles.

She said that when the registrar’s office receives notice that a room is too small to accommodate its class, the office will seek out another location for the class.

“[Overcrowding] is a very temporary situation. We would not want anything other than that,” Lichten said, adding that often “too many people show up” on the first day of shopping period.

But last fall, Afro-American Studies 10: Introduction to Afro-American Studies, violated fire codes for two weeks, as 150 more students than capacity showed up to class in Lowell Lecture Hall. The University had difficulty finding another location for the class and eventually settled on St. Paul’s Church, a building rarely used for classroom space.

Math 23 was also moved to a new classroom after a week of lectures.

Although Lichten said that FAS does not have a formal policy on classroom overcrowding during the first day of shopping period and might therefore violate the fire code, he said that students should use common sense in the event of emergencies.

But the chances of such an incident are low, according to Professor of Geology and Geophysics Göran Ekström.

“These types of accidents are extremely rare in the United States,” said Ekström, who teaches the popular class Science A-43: Environmental Risks and Disasters.

There has not been a classroom fire at Harvard in recent memory, according to Ferazani.

—Staff writer Zachary Z Norman can be reached at znorman@fas.harvard.edu.