Government Department to Offer More Morning Seminars

As College administrators look to spread class times more evenly throughout the school day, the Government Department is considering rescheduling its undergraduate seminar programs to accommodate the constrained schedules of student athletes.

Right now, almost all Government Department seminars meet once a week in the afternoon—the same time many athletic teams hold their practices.

If the proposal, supported by Dean of Undergraduate Education Jay M. Harris, goes forward, some seminars would meet from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

The plan could take effect as early as next fall.

“We have anecdotal evidence (from concentration advisers in the Houses) that conflict with afternoon commitments prevents at least some athletes from taking seminars,” Director of Undergraduates Studies Cheryl B. Welch wrote in an email.

Neither Government 90 nor Government 98, which are respectively the undergraduate seminar program and the junior seminar program in the department, are required courses for concentrators.

But seminars’ small class sizes and specialized focuses make them attractive to students in a large concentration known for its impersonal introductory classes. Approximately 80 percent of concentrators over the past five years have taken one or more seminar in their college careers, Welch wrote.

But this is a number that the department hopes to increase.

“Being flexible in scheduling is one avenue we are pursuing to make it possible for all concentrators to participate in our popular seminar program,” Welch wrote.

The department does not collect data on the number of athletes among its concentrators, according to Welch, but there is evidence to indicate that a substantial portion of the concentration is missing out on the department’s seminars due to schedule constraints.

Justin D. Gest, a college fellow in the department who is teaching an afternoon seminar, said he has seen “a few students who were unable to enroll because of a time conflict with their mandatory training or games.”

Government concentrator Aaron E. Spisak ’12, who just finished his last season as an offensive lineman on the varsity football team, said he hasn’t been able to enroll in the seminars that have interested him because they have conflicted with his practice time.

“The latest class I ever took was from 2 to 3, and I would hustle from that class to football practice,” he said.

Government concentrators on the football team, which holds practices between 3 and 6:30 every weekday afternoon, will find that only six of the more than 30 seminars listed on the departmental website do not conflict with practice.

The issue of the academic conflicts facing athletes came up at the most recent Committee on Undergraduate Education meeting on Nov. 16.

At the meeting, the committee discussed scheduling more 9 a.m. and Friday classes in the future, in order to more evenly distribute classes to give undergraduates, particularly athletes, more options.

“Athletics is something we have to work with, but I don’t think it’s an insurmountable problem,” Harris said.

—Staff writer Rebecca D. Robbins can be reached at rrobbins@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Kevin J. Wu can be reached at kwu@college.harvard.edu.