Unhappy Harvard

New Haven. The very words make you cringe. But despite what appears to be a putrid cesspool surrounding our Eli brethren, they (Yalies), as well as our counterparts at a host of other elite institutions, seem to have something we lack. According to a confidential memo recently leaked to the Boston Globe, administrators are aware of the unsettling buzz: Harvard students are less satisfied with their undergraduate experience than students at other top-tier colleges.

This conclusion comes from an analysis of 2002 Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE) data, based on surveys filled out by graduating seniors, and shows student dissatisfaction on both academic and social fronts. The results indicate student discontent with regard to Faculty availability, quality of instruction, and quality of advising, as well as a generally disappointing social life. We believe the implications of this survey are significant, and the administration ought to make satisfying undergraduates a top priority for the near future.

Harvard College consistently boasts a large and strong applicant pool, with one of the highest yield rates in the country, hovering around 80 percent. Many of the reasons for this are independent of student satisfaction, including Harvard’s reputation and its world-renown Faculty. As a result, Harvard is not pressed to improve student life as other schools are, and allows the administration to neglect certain aspects of the school that should be improved. The administration should not take advantage of the Harvard reputation in the recruiting process. Rather, it should work towards a constant improvement of student life on campus.

It is undisputable that Harvard has made significant changes over the last three years to raise the level of happiness among undergraduates. Socially, the extension of on-campus party hours to 2 a.m. is a step in the right direction, and Loker Pub Nights have created a new important and popular social outlet for undergraduates. Academically, the problems noted by the COFHE survey have been cited in the Curricular Review, and plans to increase the Faculty have been instated. But while we are encouraged by the role of the administration in effecting some needed changes since 2002, more must be done.

The nature of both Harvard and Cambridge yield a local social scene that is less-than-friendly to undergraduates. Cambridge lacks a social scene for students below or just above the legal drinking age—namely undergrads. Harvard bars include Daedalus and Red Line, where the average age is somewhere in the late twenties, serving the large graduate student population well, but lacking the young feel that exists in bars around other colleges. Also, the lack of a Greek life or alternative social spaces severely limits the availability of large open parties—and final clubs hardly compensate. Offerings like Pub Night work to fix these deficiencies, and more alternatives should be created in the future.

The COFHE results show that beyond sorry social lives, Harvard students are dissatisfied with the lack of student-professor relations. As we often lament, Harvard places such an emphasis on the research side of academia that many professors neglect to engage their students. Given the existing expanded Faculty of Arts and Sciences of 672 professors and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences William C. Kirby’s intention to expand to 750 by 2010, it is critical that the administration recruits Faculty members that will be dedicated to both teaching and research. While the importance of the latter cannot be overlooked, we do not believe that the two qualities are mutually exclusive. Moreover, the abundance of research by the present Faculty will not dwindle when simply more professors are hired.

To be sure, the standards of Homo harvardius are considerably higher than its Yalie counterpart. But the quest to satisfy even this most demanding species is not one the administration has the luxury of shying away from. We are pleased with the renewed focus on improving student life, and should it continue, better survey results lie ahead.