J-Week

It isn’t the month of courses and activities students and community members anticipated, but the eight days of programming during J-term next year will at least be something. As announced in a recent letter by Dean of Harvard College Evelyn M. Hammonds, all students will be able to return to campus for College-led and student-initiated programming for the last eight days of J-Term. However, during the rest of Winter Break, Dec. 22 to Jan. 15, only “students with a recognized and pre-approved need to be on campus —including varsity athletes, international students, thesis writers, students conducting lab-based research and a limited number of other categories of students” will be allowed to stay in campus housing. Although we appreciate that some programming is better than none, it is still a shame that the programming for J-Term is so limited. The College should live up to its promise of providing extensive programming and the opportunity for students to do something productive over J-Term—a promise that came attendant to the calendar change.

No matter how many different types of programs will be available during next year’s J-Term, there will only be eight days of programming. This time period is too short to be conducive to a meaningful learning experience. In contrast, M.I.T.’s Independent Activities Period, conceived of in the same spirit as J-Term, is four full weeks long. This allows students to take in-depth courses such as “Kokikai Aikido for Beginners,” “CASTOR Satellite Design and Build,” “Basics of Obtaining a Patent,” and “Germany Today: Intensive Study of German Language and Culture.”

Additionally, other Harvard schools, such as the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government, have much more extensive programming for J-Term. HKS offers nine three-week January courses for credit, which count for spring-term course credit for all purposes.

The potential of the College’s proposed one-week experience is, in comparison, limited to a shallow understanding of the same material. Internalization of concepts, of whatever type and purpose, takes more than eight days, and thus the week threatens to be nothing more than a cram session.

Given that the College will not facilitate programming for three weeks of Winter Break, it will again be up to students to arrange their own experiences during this time. To this end, it is often easier for people who are socioeconomically advantaged to self-create compelling J-Term experiences, as such experiences may include expensive travel. J-Term is a perfect occasion to spend an extended period of time in a foreign country, become immersed in the culture to a critical depth, and return to school with expanded horizons and a broader perspective. However, without financial assistance, this type of experience is only accessible to those who can afford a thousand-dollar plane ticket on their own.

Therefore, we suggest that travel grants be made available for students. In many cases, J-Term could enable the same types of experiences and results for which academic departments and the Office of International Programs presently offer financial assistance during the summer.

Expanded J-Term programming facilitation would be a good idea, and we believe there is a substantial desire in the student body for it. Dean Hammonds’ message to the student body mentioned that, “Of the students who remained in residence during the Winter Break 2010 period, only 26 percent of respondents said they would like to have had some ‘fun,’ ‘creative’ programming available.” However, this statistic is misleading in isolation. The only people allowed to stay on campus this past J-Term were already involved with a consuming activity, such as practicing a sport or writing a thesis. It seems fairly obvious that these thus-committed students did not need conceive of a need for additional programming. However, it does not follow that students who were off-campus this past Winter Break would not have appreciated additional programming, given the opportunity. In fact, this sub-group is the one which would most benefit from the College facilitating the J-Term experience to a greater extent, not thesis writers and winter athletes.

In order to better understand the sentiments of our peers, all responses from the survey students took on their January experience should be made available. This will not only be informative, but it will also help students leading next year’s programming better understand their constituencies.

All this said, we are appreciative of whatever programming will be available, and we are glad that the College has informed us of the details about the upcoming J-Term at a relatively early point this year. Next year’s J-Term does promise to provide an experience of some substance for many students. However, given the potential of this time period, we are sure that the College can do better. J-Term was not conceived of as J-Week, and it should not continue to be treated in such a manner.