“There is in our department, as in many, a wide range of opinions about the President, but I do not think that the general mood is one of enthusiasm for either style or substance of his administration,” writes Sollors, who was the single tenured Af Am professor at Harvard when Gates came from Duke in 1991.

Still, Gates has repeatedly denied that conflict exists between himself and Summers.

“Just because you disagree with someone doesn’t mean you have a bad relationship with him,” says Gates, who did say he disagrees with Summers’ decision to deny Morgan tenure. “In the end, the president has sole power to appoint professors at Harvard.”

TEACHING TO EMPTY SEATS

While the department’s professorial ranks took a severe hit this past year, its class enrollment increased slightly from last year’s totals. But when measured against levels from a few years ago, the number of students has plummeted since West’s departure.

In the fall of 2001, West’s course Afro-American Studies 10, “Introduction to Afro-American Studies,” drew 579 students alone. That year, Af Am 10 could be taken for Core credit; since West left, the course was overhauled and no longer qualifies for Core credit. Af Am 10 enrolled just 17 students last year, though it attracted 46 students this year.

Gates says that one remedy for small enrollment numbers is to offer more large lecture courses, which the department currently lacks but “will be offering over the next two years.”

Concentration statistics have followed a similar pattern as enrollment statistics. Fifteen students concentrated in Af Am this year, up from 11 students last year, but down from 21 students in 2001-2002 and 34 students in the 1997-1998 academic year.

Gates says he is confident that the eight potential faculty hires—who would not join Harvard until next spring at the earliest—will attract more students to the department’s classes.

He declines to divulge the names of any of the professors currently under consideration for tenure, but according to Geyser University Professor William Julius Wilson, the list includes Mahmoud Mamdani, a political scientist who is currently the director of Columbia’s Institute of African Studies; James H. Sidanius, a professor in UCLA’s psychology department; and Christopher R. Udry, an economist at Yale.

Gates adds that he thinks Harvard’s growing African languages program—which is directed by Senior Preceptor in African and African American Studies John M. Mugane, offers 14 languages, and is the largest program of its kind in the country—will also draw increasing numbers of students in the future.

Brandon M. Terry ’05, a joint government and African and African American studies concentrator, says he believes Gates’ decision to step down as chair, which will allow him to teach more courses, will also increase enrollment in the department.

Wilson, who also holds an appointment in the Af Am department, said that while he would like class enrollment numbers to be high, they are not the department’s primary gauge of success.

“At a place like Harvard, we measure success in terms of the impact of the scholars in the particular field where they are studying,” he says.

LOSING ITS LUSTER