EDITORIAL: Faculty needed on SAS pilot

If any overhaul of the general education requirement in the College is to be successful, all faculty need to be involved. So far, SAS professors have been largely apathetic toward the process. In April, only 44 faculty members participated in the initial vote on the proposed pilot curriculum. And only a handful to date have taken the lead in developing courses for the subject areas outlined in the pilot curriculum. Faculty apathy is nothing new, but for a project of this magnitude, no one can afford to stand back and be silent. The first step is for faculty to come out today and vote. If they believe that the proposal will give students better, more meaningful exposure to those disciplines deemed vital to a liberal education, then it is their responsibility to say so. If they believe it will result in non-rigorous courses that provide neither breadth nor depth of knowledge, say so as well. But faculty members' participation must not be grounded in the traditional ivory tower concerns of individual course loads and department funding. The purpose of this effort at reform is to strengthen undergraduate education, not play academic politics -- and every faculty member should keep students' interests paramount in their mind. The next, more crucial step, is for faculty to play a role in fleshing out whatever skeleton of a general education requirement is created. Many have voiced concern that the four subject areas -- "Structure and Value in Human Societies," "Science, Culture and Society," "Earth, Space and Life" and "Imagination, Representation and Reality" -- are too broad, so their impetus to create new courses and adapt existing ones to these areas should be all the greater. If April's preliminary vote is any indication, then the pilot curriculum supported by College Dean Richard Beeman and the Committee on Undergraduate Education has a good chance of being approved. But keep in mind that this is an experiment, affecting only 200 students in each of the next five entering classes, and is neither permanent nor immutable. Educational reform is a continual process, one in which every professor has a stake. If only a handful of devoted faculty members invest themselves in this process, then the results are likely to be disagreeable to those on the sidelines. So vote today, and make your voice heard afterward.