Give Af-Am 10 More Space

For students enrolled in Afro-American Studies 10: “Introduction to Afro-American Studies,” the beginning of this semester has been unnecessarily stressful. Caught in a bureaucratic war between the registrar’s office and the course’s instructor, Fletcher University Professor Cornel R. West ’74, course enrollees have been packed into a dangerously overcrowded learning environment, while also facing the ongoing threat of a course lottery well into the third week of the semester. Though most students have settled into the weekly routine of classes, those taking Af-Am 10 continue to line the floor and aisles of Lowell Lecture Hall while still wondering whether they will even be allowed to enroll in the course.

The response of the registrar’s office to the space crunch has been puzzling. Sanders Theatre, the ideal place to accommodate the 599 students of Af-Am 10, is currently being used by Literature and Arts C-42: “Constructing the Samurai,” which has only 408 students—well within the maximum capacity of Lowell Lecture Hall. The registrar’s office has argued that it cannot make the obvious room swap between the two courses because Sanders is the only room with the audio-visual equipment “Samurai” requires.

Even if Sanders is the only space on campus currently capable of providing sufficient audio-visual equipment to “Samurai,” this demonstrates a clear misprioritization by the University. With an $18.3 billion endowment, Harvard should not restrict student course selection because of a lack of audio-visual equipment. If “Samurai” needs more advanced audio-visual equipment, the University should install the necessary technology in another room.

Professors should decide whether or not to lottery a course based on their desired teaching environment, not because they cannot find a space large enough for the class. Already many students are disappointed each year when they are lotteried out of courses which, in some cases, fulfill their requirements. If West wishes to accommodate student choice by teaching a larger class, then the University should provide every available resource to ensure that he is able to do so. By spending a relatively trivial sum of money, the University could speedily resolve the problem while satisfying everyone’s needs.

Nevertheless, West’s defiance of the fire code is silly and dangerous. While we sympathize with West’s frustration at the bureaucratic incompetence of the University, risking students’ lives by crowding them in a room where they exceed the maximum capacity by 150 people is not worth the statement he makes to the administration. West’s bravado, demonstrated by his offhand remark that he has broken the law before, is not necessary or useful to solving this logistical problem.