Ec10 Hourly

We, the undersigned, believe that the presidential election on November 2nd, 2004, is a pivotal moment in our history. Many of us have poured money, time, and emotion into the campaigns. Its important to us to watch the returns in real-time, as history unfolds before our eyes. The election is tight and the result will not be known until very late at night, and perhaps in the early hours of the morning. We are concerned about the Ec 10 hourly exam, scheduled for November 3rd.

Election night will already be stressful for us. Alienating ourselves from the returns in order to study could actually be detrimental to our civic education.

One recommended course of action was to study in advance and then get enough sleep. Unfortunately, the preceding weekend is Freshman Parents Weekend, with official scheduled events for families. This cuts down much of the advance studying time. Three-fourths of the Ec10 students are freshmen.

Furthermore, it may not be possible to get a good nights sleep, even in time for a noon exam. If the election winner is determined at 6 AM, for example, there will be loud, raucous celebrations all over campus. The reaction to the Red Sox victories showed that even if one was not interested in baseball, it was impossible to ignore the masses of people running through our dorms and the Yard late at night.

Frankly, we believe that we have earned the right to react to the results, no matter when they arrive. Additionally, if the results are not to our liking, many people will be depressed and not in the best condition to be taking an exam mere hours later.

We therefore ask that the exam be moved. A later Wednesday time would be better, as would a different day.

We realize that this may be difficult to do with such a large class, but Math 21a, with 290 students, switched their exam day due to the election. Since Ec 10 is a social science class, we would hope that you could be as accommodating as the mathematics department.

We are politically aware and civic-minded students. Were hoping that such attitudes will be encouraged at Harvard.