Time is Up

In response to the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast, Harvard clearly demonstrated its support of the victims through monetary contributions and initiative to accept dozens of students whose schools were forced to cancel the fall semester.

As if this gesture by the College was not generous enough, the Undergraduate Council has “officially” supported the proposal that visiting freshman students be allowed to apply to transfer to Harvard permanently if they wish.

Visiting students who wish to transfer to Harvard permanently and those who support that proposal should realize that it is unfair to the hurricane-affected schools who explicitly expressed in conjunction with Harvard that students would be required to return once the fall semester ended. They should understand that dishonoring that contract would set a negative precedent for any future such actions in response to hurricane-affected or disaster-affected areas.

The visiting students were given the opportunity to apply under the Visiting Undergraduate Study Program, which explicitly states that students enrolled under the program may not apply to Harvard as transfer students. This rule may seem arbitrary, but the students were informed of these regulations, and yet they applied under the program. In reference to negative precedents, this would mean that any time such a disturbance happens in a school’s curriculum, visiting students could potentially never return to their home schools.

Furthermore, the question of whether or not these students would honestly be interested in transferring to Harvard had they not been at Harvard as visiting students under these special circumstances needs to be addressed. Whether we admit it or not, Harvard has a certain allure that attracts students from all over the world. Assuming that visiting students do not hold this superficial argument for staying, the most compelling argument would then be that they have built relationships in their short time here and that they have grown accustomed to life as a Harvard student. Although understandable, these reasons underlie their self-interests and dismiss the consequences that their home school may suffer.

An extenuating circumstance (Hurricane Katrina) allowed these students the opportunity to continue with their course of study elsewhere. So, unless a special circumstance prevents their return to their home schools, they should not be allowed to stay at Harvard just as visiting students in other colleges should be required to return to their home schools; allowing them to stay could negatively alter the class compositions of hurricane-affected schools given that an estimated 18,000 displaced New Orleans students were taken in by colleges around the country. Ultimately, this could lead to disastrous ramifications in terms of the economy, academic rigor, and social life at those schools.

Although we can sympathize with the visiting students’ plea to stay, individual students should not be held above the success of their home schools, most of which count on their student population for said success. Clearly, these students found attractive qualities in their home schools that led them to enroll in them, so the effects of Katrina and the inception of new friendships should not be reasons why they have the need to transfer to Harvard. Visiting students should accept the regulations as were presented to them and focus on rebuilding their home schools while maintaining the relationships they have made at Harvard.



Patrick Jean Baptiste ’09, a Crimson editorial comper, lives in Thayer Hall.