Amid Interruptions, Shoppers Pack Classrooms

This week’s blizzard did not deter undergraduates from braving the cold to attend classes during the spring semester’s shortened shopping week. Courses across disciplines attracted unanticipated numbers of students, who packed into classrooms and spilled into the hallways in an attempt to see lectures.

Religion 57: “Faith and Authenticity: Religion, Existentialism, and the Human Condition,” enrolled 14 students when it last was offered in fall 2013, while more than 100 students crowded into Harvard Hall to shop the course on Monday.

Mark C. Elliott gives the opening lecture for Societies of the World 45: "Beyond the Great Wall." As is often the case, shopping week was characterized by overcrowded classrooms. By Alana M Steinberg

Students also packed in Tozzer Library 203, where they filled up desks and the floor and lined up in the hallway, for Anthropology 1682: “Gangsters and Troublesome Populations,” taught by assistant African and African American and Anthropology professor Laurence A. Ralph, who said he was not expecting the number of students who showed up on Monday and Wednesday to attend the lecture.

Another course, Government 40: “International Conflict and Cooperation,” may move to a larger space because the scheduled classroom could not house the students who attended.

Over the years, shopping week has been marked by scheduling mistakes and overcrowding not predicted by Pre-Term Planning enrollment projections. The computer-generated data, however, does not take into account external factors, such as when students tell their friends about exciting courses to shop, according to Faculty of Arts and Sciences Registrar Michael P. Burke.

“It’s kind of the price we pay for shopping,” Burke said. “In a way, there’s a bit of uncertainty built into the first week of the semester.”

Dean of Undergraduate Education Jay M. Harris said that PTP data is “one set among many,” including historical data, that administrators use to predict course enrollment.

Although the blizzard prompted Harvard to cancel one day of shopping period, study cards are still due Friday afternoon, although they will not be charged the usual late fee if they miss the deadline. Harris emphasized that students should turn their cards in on time barring exceptional circumstances.

—Staff writer Melissa C. Rodman can be reached at melissa.rodman@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @melissa_rodman.