An Open Letter to the Community

I regret to inform you that the Faculty of Arts and Sciences will not longer be accepting any incoming physics concentrators. Following the most thorough examination of the contents of the College’s science laboratories, the administrators have concluded that the supply of Bunsen burners owned at present by Harvard cannot successfully accommodate the needs of any new students in the physics track. Instead, the College has embarked upon a substantial multi-year capital investment initiative to repair and revitalize existing burners to promote the long-term health of the physics department and its pedagogy.

In important respects, an education in physics is founded on the use of the Bunsen burner. Concentrators learn a great deal from the heating experience and contact between the open flame and the experimental materials, complementing the experience of problem sets and other laboratory work. Harvard does not admit physics undergraduates without the understanding that Bunsen burners will be an integral aspect of their education.

I understand that sophomores have only recently declared their concentrations, and that this may seem like an untimely decision. It may even come as a distasteful surprise. All of us at Harvard College expected we would be able to allow students to concentrate in physics, as we have for many years. This year, however, Harvard faced a significant challenge: our exhaustive study of laboratory supply closets revealed that the shortage of Bunsen burners was more extensive than previous information had indicated, and raised serious questions about whether the labs could successfully accommodate any new physics concentrators.

We have looked into several alternatives, including leasing Bunsen burners from other facilities such as MIT, Boston University, Boston College, Tufts, Emerson, Suffolk, Wellesley, Babson, Amherst, Brandeis, Northeastern, UMass-Boston, Berklee, Simmons, Bunker Hill Community College, and Lesley. Unfortunately, despite the abundance of Bunsen burners at neighboring colleges and local high schools, some of which are only a minute’s walk from Harvard, we have ruled out that option as a logistical unreality. We also decided against considering any equipment used for heating, sterilization, and combustion other than Bunsen burners.

The reality is, we simply did not expect such an abundance of physics concentrators as we have witnessed in the past several years, despite the fact that we have to approve of each and every one of their study cards and admissions acceptances. That being said, physics concentrators are a minority within the Harvard community, and though their contribution will be missed, we need to be able to accommodate other departments, amend the Core Curriculum, and finish construction in our Allston campus before we can focus all of our attention to providing Bunsen burners to every student who needs one.

We expect to begin readmitting physics concentrators in the fall of 2011, when the shortage of Bunsen burners is expected to be have been ameliorated. At that point we will have utilized our massive endowment to more thoroughly organize our supply closets across campus.

Also, we’re not letting any more transfer students in.


Sarah C. McKetta ’08–’09, a Crimson editorial editor, is a biological anthropology concentrator affiliated with Winthrop House.