Af-Am 10 Exam Changed Due To ‘Administrative Crossed Wires’

Students in Afro-American Studies 10, “Introduction to Afro-American Studies,” were taken on a roller coaster ride last week as the status of the course’s final exam was still in flux, even in the last days of the semester.

Last Wednesday—just three days after an e-mail detailing the format of the course’s take-home final examination had been sent to the 585 students enrolled in the course—head teaching fellow Martha Nadell sent an e-mail announcing that the course would have a regular three-hour final examination on Jan. 19.

Nadell, who did not return repeated calls, cited in her e-mail to the class “a series of administrative crossed wires” as the reason for the change.

Core Program Director Susan W. Lewis explained yesterday in an interview with The Crimson that she contacted Nadell to inform her that Af-Am 10 must have a regular final because the course was approved for Core credit, “with the understanding that it was giving a final exam.”

The syllabus that was originally submitted to the Committee on Historical Studies did not say “take-home final,” but simply “final exam,” Lewis said.

Af-Am 10 has never scheduled a take-home final in the past, Lewis said, and she noted that all Core courses must have a regular three-hour final, though not all departmental courses that may be taken for Core credit must meet this requirement.

English 10a, for example, may be taken to satisfy the Literature and Arts A requirement, despite the fact that it has no final exam.

Lewis said she does not recall during her tenure as director of the Core program any other situation in which she learned this late in the semester that a course’s requirements had changed since the time it had been approved for Core credit.

Lewis said the discrepancy was brought to her attention by a professor whom she declined to identify.

Lewis also cited students’ complaints as a reason for questioning the course’s policy.

On Monday, Dec. 3, students received the first official e-mail from Nadell about the take-home final. These students, some of whom had scheduled their winter vacations to extend into reading period and would thus not be at Harvard during the proposed time for the take-home exam, asked their senior tutors to petition the Core program and other administrators.

Because course requirements are not allowed to be changed this late in the term, Lewis said the course could not be permitted to hold the take-home exam.

Students in several sections of Af-Am 10 said it was not clear to them why the take-home final had been cancelled—some said their teaching fellows did not discuss or explain the change.

A further degree of confusion was added to the situation by the comments made by one teaching fellow to his section—comments that were soon circulated among other students enrolled in the course. The teaching fellow said that University President Lawrence H. Summers had singled out Af-Am 10 as a course that epitomizes grade inflation.

The nearly overnight change in the format of the final exam of Af-Am 10 has left some questions in the minds of students enrolled in the course. Some students said they have gotten the impression from their TFs that, since the beginning of the semester when West locked horns with the administration over his refusal to lottery the 585-person class, Af-Am 10 has been under intense scrutiny from the administration.

“For some reason, the way it was explained to us was that President Summers is not happy with Af-Am 10 and is trying to make it difficult for us to have take-home final,” said Jonathan M. Lee ’03, a student in the course.

But University Spokesperson Joe Wrinn said that although Summers has met with several professors in recent weeks to discuss the importance of combatting grade inflation, he has not in any way pressured Af-Am 10 to change its final.

“It’s categorically untrue that he’s trying to micro-manage the testing policies of any department, Afro-Am or otherwise,” Wrinn said.

Fletcher University Professor Cornel R. West ’74, the instructor of the course, also declined to comment about this matter.

“I have nothing to say about Brother Summers—I just wish him well,” he said.

Most students in the course contacted over the past week by The Crimson have expressed disappointment in the change, saying they feel a take-home exam would be more appropriate given the reading-intensive nature of the course.

“A take-home final is a better way of assessing your knowledge, especially in class like this where we have read something like 26 books,” said Aaliyah N. Williams ’02.

Yesterday marked the course’s last lecture of the semester.

—Staff writer Kate L. Rakoczy can be reached at rakoczy@fas.harvard.edu.