College unveils proposal for new Gen Req

An experimental overhaul will be tested in the fall of 2000. Current students will be unaffected. The Committee on Undergraduate Education will release today a proposal to all 450 standing faculty members in the School of Arts and Sciences recommending numerous revisions to the College of Arts and Sciences' existing curriculum and, in particular, to the structure of the current General Requirement. The actual proposal was created over the past few months by CUE -- a group comprised of 14 faculty members and four students -- and will be formally presented and voted on by the entire faculty at next Tuesday's faculty meeting. The proposal's first and most dramatic recommendation is for 200 students -- beginning in the fall of 2000 -- to be exempted from fulfilling the College's General Requirement. Randomly selected members of the Class of 2004 who express interest in participating will instead fulfill a "pilot curriculum" requiring them to take one course in each of four specified categories, one per semester during their freshman and sophomore years. The current General Requirement requires students to take a total of 10 courses in seven different sectors but does not force students in the College to take any one particular course. Under the new system, however, students would take a total of four broad-based, interdisciplinary and team-taught courses. These courses, for which syllabi have not yet been developed, will introduce students to the "complexities of modern life" and will draw on the "approaches and accomplishments of multiple disciplines," according to the proposal. The proposal provides four suggested course categories but the document notes that the "category descriptions and titles will undoubtedly evolve and improve" with more faculty input. One such category is tentatively titled "Freedom, Equality and Community" and involves disciplines ranging from philosophy to economics, political science and cultural anthropology, according to the proposal. It will explore conflicts over religious tolerance and the emergence of democratic ideals, as well as struggles over slavery and a number of ideologies. Another category, labeled "Science, Culture and Society" will combine science and mathematics and will "examine the emergence of the modern conceptions of physical science, biological science and social science," including evolutionary and genetic theories. A third offering, "Earth, Space and Life," will explore the "major developments of contemporary science," including plate tectonics and cosmology. Finally, students participating in the pilot curriculum would be required to take a course in the category of "Imagination, Representation and Reality," which would combine "literature, fine art, music and other forms of human expression." College Dean Richard Beeman emphasized that the proposed curriculum changes reflect administrators' "spirit of optimism" and commitment to "educational renewal" -- and are not intended as a sign of dissatisfaction with the current system. "We don't feel like there's anything here that's broken," Beeman stressed. The proposal says that, at least initially, there will be one course offered in each of the four categories, but numerous recitation sections -- which might have different "reading materials, discussion topics and assignments" -- will provide for variation within each course's curriculum. In addition, more courses in each category might be offered if the pilot curriculum's popularity increases. A decision whether to extend the pilot program to all College students will be made by SAS faculty no later than the spring semester of 2004, the proposal states. "We like the idea of, as much as possible, some sort of shared experience during the early years," said CUE Chairperson and Mathematics Professor Frank Warner. Still, Beeman stressed that the four courses are "not a core." "They are not intended to define what some group of faculty thought of as the most important things," he said. Instead, Beeman said, the proposed curriculum is designed "as a way of opening up areas of future inquiry for students" and intended to introduce students to numerous important disciplines that they might not otherwise encounter. The actual order in which the four courses are to be taken has not yet been determined, but the proposal does suggest that science majors and pre-medical students take courses in the first, second and fourth categories in their first three semesters. The proposal also specifies a plan to develop an effective advising system for the pilot program, designed to help students refine their educational goals over the years. Assistant College Dean for Academic Affairs Kent Peterman also emphasized that there "could be additional experimentation" once students actually enroll in the pilot curriculum. Other key components of the new plan include a "Communication Skills" requirement -- a course that students would take in their freshman year and would require "both frequent writing and a variety of oral presentations." The logistics of the requirement will likely be determined by the College's Writing and Oral Communication Committee. And according to the proposal, a special task force is currently studying the Foreign Language requirement and might make some changes on its own, though the document does not mention any specific plan to revise the requirement. A third important attribute is an increased emphasis on research and the proposal suggests that departments help students "advance the boundaries of human knowledge and creation for themselves." Departments will be encouraged to offer each student an opportunity to conduct individual research.