Government Is Largest Field; History Next

The Government Department substantially increased its lead in the total of undergraduate concentrators this term, according to latest figures from the Committee on the Choice of Electives. Government, which topped other fields last year with 16.4 per cent of the College enrolled as concentrators, gained 30 students. Government majors now constitute a record 17.2 per cent of the College.

History, with 11.8 per cent of the student body, was the second largest concentration field. Economics and English followed with slight increases over last year.

Professor V. O. Key, chairman of the Government Department, said of this year's totals. "I hope the quality of instruction had something to do with maintaining and slightly increasing our totals."

Key added that the enrollment of 555 men in Government was a sign of the great interest Harvard undergraduates have developed in national and foreign affairs. He said that the department's emphasis on tutorial work offsets the liability of Government's many large courses.

Social Relations, fifth in undergraduate popularity, lost only one concentrator this year, compared with a decrease of over 60 students in 1952.

Social Relations Decline

Roger W. Brown, Senior Tutor of the Social Relations Department, explains this decline, the sharpest in recent College history, as part of a national trend. "Immediately following the war," Brown said, "social sciences and especially psychology were on the up-swing. Here at Harvard there was a pioneering spirit in Social Relations, as it was a new field."

The present number of concentrators in the field represents the percentage of men interested in the subject matter apart from the frontier attractions and other temporary lures, Brown felt.

Proportionately, the biggest enrollment drop in any field this year was in the Sanskrit and Indian Studies Department. The department had one concentrator in 1952. He graduated in June.