Another reason for the committee's wait-and-see approach is that the development of a new concentration is only possible through a vote of the entire Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Binford says, and a lack of sufficient support for the program could be a major setback.

Possible Options

Although members of the University Working Group on the Environment are clear about what they will not recommend, they are still in the process of choosing among several different means of structuring environmental studies--short of creating a new concentration.

Many students and faculty agree that one of the first steps towards improving environmental studies at Harvard is the creation of a focal point for the discipline. Without any central administration, the study of the environment has become balkanized among the College and each of the graduate schools, Norris says.

One way to focus the discipline is to facilitate the process of developing a special concentration in the environment by reducing the bureaucratic obstacles for special concentrators, Branscomb says.

The plan being considered by the committee is to create "more of a grooved track" so that people doing environmental studies "don't have to reinvent the wheel each time," he says.

One of the four undergraduates pursuing a special concentration degree in environmental studies this year says that developing a special concentration has been easy in comparison to finding professors to teach her.

Amy L. Salzhauer '91 decided to create her own concentration in environmental decision making at the beginning of her junior year. After struggling to find professors to teach her one-on-one tutorials, Salzhauer says she believes her needs would have best been met by an interdisciplinary committee that could offer its own tutorials.

"I constantly feel like I've been asking professors for favors," she says. "I've found professors to be very helpful but they have no reason to be helpful."

The faculty committee is also considering recommendations for the development of more tracks within existing departments for students with a special interest in the environment.

Michael B. McElroy, the chair of the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, says his department is likely to offer a new program of study with concentration credit for courses in government and economics by next fall.

McElroy says that departments could offer stronger programs in environmental studies than an interdisciplinary committee, since they have the power to hire faculty and shape their own curricula.

"Departments put muscle into programs that interdisciplinary programs do not," he says.

Another option the Working Group is considering is to give recognition to students who take certain environmental courses, in addition to their required concentration courses. The College would note on those students' degrees that they had done significant work in environmental studies.

Programs at Other Universities