“If there’s something that important why not devote that much time?” says Joy C. Lin ’05, who is working with the Chinese Progressive Association to lobby for a library for Chinatown.

She says Chinatown is one of the most densely populated areas in Boston—but one of the few that doesn’t have a library.

Andrew M. Crespo ’05 says that Ganz has turned the class into a “supportive network” where students inspire and console each other.

In weekly presentations, students describe their project’s obstacles and progress while drawing from the week’s reading for analytical background.

Students say these presentations foster a sense of solidarity among the classmates and allow them to enlist the help of others when solving problems.

“A whole new range of possibilities opens up every time somebody shares something,” Lin says.

Readings in the class range from standard social theory such as Max Weber to the Bible and personal narratives.

Ganz says these produce a framework through which students can understand their own successes and failures.

“It’s the most coherent bunch of readings I’ve had for any class,” Crespo says. “The amazing thing about the reading is that it all flows together. “

Students are overwhelming enthusiastic about the class and Ganz himself.

“He’s definitely the perfect person to be teaching the class,” says Crespo, who is working with Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, or NOAH, a community development program that is attempting to organize housing committees in neighborhoods in East Boston to combat problems like crime and graffiti.

Despite Ganz’s expertise in political action, students describe his teaching style as relaxed.

“I feel like it’s one of the best classes I’ve taken,” Lin says.

—Staff writer Nadia Oussayef can be reached at oussayef@fas.harvard.edu.