The number of students choosing to concentrate in Visual and Environmental Studies has dropped by 50 percent over the past two years, and the department's administrators offer little explanation for the plummeting enrollment.

According to the estimates of VES Head Tutor Kathleen Chaudhry, there are 30 VES concentrators in the class of '94, but only 15 in the class of '96.

In interviews yesterday, students attributed the rapidly dropping numbers to Faculty of Arts and Sciences apathy towards the department.

"Harvard just does not seem to take the department very seriously," says ex-concentrator Ann M. Sullivan '96. Sullivan officially changed her concentration from VES to Biology last week.

"I think that the name of the department is indicative of the University's attitude," Sullivan adds. "It's like they're ashamed of having an art department so they slapped a misleading label on it."

Sullivan says one indication of University neglect is the inadequate facilities provided for VES classes.

For example, an oil-painting class was conducted in a classroom on the top floor of Sever Hall last semester. The room was inadequately ventilated and many students suffered health problems from the painting materials' toxic fumes.

Sullivan says she left the department because she didn't want to spend two more years in a concentration that is not a top academic priority for the University.

"I felt very frustrated, like I had to leave because the University doesn't care enough about VES and its students," she says. "They just don't care as much about VES as they do about, for example, the sciences."

The Faculty at least tacitly recognized problems in VES last year when Dean for Undergraduate Education Lawrence Buell convened an outside evaluation committee and commissioned a reporton the department's status. But administratorshave declined to discuss the report or itsrecommendations.

A semester after the report was presented toDean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles, studentssay they've seen little change in the way Harvardmarginalizes art.

But some students say Harvard is loss to blamethan the VES department itself.

Cox, who last year enrolled in the introductorycourse VES 1, says he decided not to join thedepartment after taking that class.

"I felt like I was grinding my gears for nopurpose," Cox says. "It was almost like ananti-art class, which is okay if that's thepurpose."

"But I don't think that's the purpose andthat's certainly not what I expected going intothe class," he adds.

Cox says VES 1 was designed to introducestudents to the different mediums through whichart can be created.