Administration Has Few Answers to J-Term Questions

Nearly two years after the University approved a calendar change that introduced a “January Term,” or “J-Term,” the College has yet to adopt concrete plans for next January, raising questions and concerns from the student body about programming and housing during this three-week-long period between first and second semesters.

The period, dubbed the “January Experience” to distinguish it from an academic term, will last from Jan. 3 to Jan. 23 of next year.

Though College officials say plans are forthcoming, students and student groups, such as the Hasty Pudding Theatricals—which President David J. Andersson ’09 said needs January housing to prepare for their spring play—have been left in the dark as to what they might be able to do next year.

“It’s great that Harvard is making a change, but they sort of seem unprepared for this,” Andersson said.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE

In September 2003, then-President Lawrence H. Summers, Provost Steven E. Hyman, and University deans announced their desire to reevaluate the University’s calendars. A committee chaired by Professor Sidney Verba ’53 was formed to spearhead the effort.

After six months of consideration, the committee suggested a new University-wide calendar, consisting of two four-month semesters separated by a one-month break.

But amid a focus on the pending curricular review and the controversies of the Summers administration, calendar reform fell by the wayside. In spring 2007, Undergraduate Council resumed the discussion, calling for an undergraduate referendum on calendar reform­ and proposing a plan that deviated from the Verba report in omitting a J-Term.

At the end of that academic year, interim President Derek C. Bok announced that the Harvard Corporation had approved a plan modeled on the Verba committee’s initial outline.

Bok wrote in his announcement that plans for the time between early January and the start of spring term would be left to the discretion of individual schools—leaving room for decisions that have yet to be made.

LIVING EXPERIENCE

From the discussion’s outset, the administration made clear that unlike at other schools with J-Terms—such as MIT and Oberlin—Harvard’s January session will be completely optional.

But the opportunities available to those who do not wish to spend five weeks at home are far from set in stone.

Assistant Dean in the Advising Programs Office Inge-Lise Ameer was recently selected to lead planning for next January.

In an interview earlier this year, Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds said that she envisioned that January programs would either allow students to explore interests they could not during normal academic terms or help them build non-academic skills. Hammonds said the College aims to announce plans for the period by the end of the academic year.