Things have gotten so bad in the Government department at Harvard that they have called in the big guns to do the recruiting. All over campus, posters have popped up with Uncle Sam instructing students that “the top ranked government department in the U.S. wants you!”

This December, 125 members of the Class of 2010 registered as Government concentrators, a drop from 164 concentrators in the Class of 2009 and dramatically lower than the 236 concentrators in the Class of 2008. In sum, the College’s political scientists have seen a 48 percent decrease in the students who fill their lecture halls and seminar rooms over the last three years, leaving department administrators searching for answers.

“We’re not sure, to be perfectly honest,” said Timothy J. Colton, director of the undergraduate studies for Government, in trying to explain the student flight from the department.

Further confusing administrators is the fact that the concentrations into which students would be expected to fall haven’t seen their numbers increase appreciably. While History has picked up students over the past three years, Economics has lost a few and Social Studies has seen a 14 percent drop, according to figures available through the Harvard College Facebook.