Amid Decline in Popularity, Harvard Government Department Turns to New Data and Tech Programs

It appears many at Harvard don't want to study the subject of politics. The Harvard Crimson reports:

In 2008, there were 477 Government concentrators at Harvard. That number has since dropped, stabilizing around 324 by 2017. This year saw 10 more students declare government than last year, according to Coordinator of Undergraduate Studies Karen Kaletka, and the department expects that number will further increase when students can declare joint concentrations with Government in the spring.

There is no denying, though, that the department is engaging fewer undergraduates than it once did. Several years ago, Harvard decreased the number of courses that Government faculty are required to teach from four a year to three a year in order to remain competitive with the offers other universities were making new faculty members. As a result, there are now fewer undergraduate courses taught by faculty members.

Jennifer L. Hochschild, chair of the Government Department, noted that the drop in the department’s concentrators is part of a nationwide trend.

“The social sciences and humanities within Harvard, but also outside Harvard, have more or less declined at least relatively, if not absolutely, in comparison with STEM fields,” Hochschild said.

Imagine that.