Wondering which of the 16 classes you’re interested in that you should take? Frantic about finalizing your entire course load just as you arrive on campus? Wouldn’t it have been great if you could have actually previewed each class and experienced it firsthand before deciding which courses to sign up for? That’s exactly how Shopping Week used to work in 2020 — vastly different from the Course Preview Period we’ve had to deal with this Fall. And now, Shopping Week is in danger of never being brought back again.

Before the pandemic, Harvard College had a decades-long tradition called “Shopping Week,” allowing you to actually try different classes before enrolling in them. During the first week of classes, you would get to "shop" classes, poking in and out of lecture halls to see what piques your interest and which professors you enjoyed hearing from best. No need to dig through arcane websites and search through the depths of Canvas — with Shopping Week, what you see is what you get. Generations of past Harvard alumni have discovered a hidden gem by spontaneously dropping into an interesting course with their friends, or even found their eventual concentration through Shopping Week!

But now, Shopping Week’s return is in jeopardy. The Harvard Administration’s Committee on Course Registration is considering proposals that include permanently eliminating Shopping Week by Fall 2022 and replace it with a digital early registration system. That could force students to sign up for Fall classes all the way back in May without the ability to check out the class in-person first or even browse full syllabi and Canvas websites, which would make course registration even more confusing and stressful.”

But the thing is, Shopping Week works, and for decades it has been a core part of what makes Harvard, Harvard. In a 2019 survey of 1,883 undergraduates, 99 percent approved of keeping Shopping Week and 62 percent reported that Shopping Week significantly influenced their decision to attend Harvard. Even the administration’s official Harvard Gazette news outlet declared Shopping Week “priceless” in 2014 (https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/09/shopping-week-priceless/)

After over a year of countless educational and experiential losses, students do not deserve to be welcomed back to Harvard with the loss of their beloved Shopping Week. 

Restoring this Harvard tradition is up to us. If we want to bring back the flexibility and stability to choose our courses wisely, we must make our voices heard. Harvard’s Faculty Council will vote on Shopping Week during this academic year, and faculty members are split on whether to keep Shopping Week, so hearing resounding support from undergraduates would make a real difference. Let Harvard know that they must restore Shopping Week as soon as possible and withdraw all proposals to eliminate it. Sign today to make your voice heard.