Altered core curriculum proposed

By Mary Georgevich

A proposal for a new core curriculum -- which would significantly change class requirements for incoming students -- will return to a committee for work following discussion with faculty and students.

The proposed core will go into effect for the class of 2012 at the earliest, and divides student learning into three phases: Orientations, Foundations and Explorations. It would significantly change graduation requirements, sequencing some and eliminating others. Under the proposal, the Western Civilization requirement would be eliminated and be replaced by a two-class "Cultures and Ideas" sequence.

The proposal states that "the contextualization of this knowledge within comparative frames would better serve students as they begin their university careers," based on the idea that students have previous exposure to classical western history and society studies.

Christoffer Lee, the student leader for the core proposal, was apprehensive about a change.

"I think that assumption may not be completely accurate," he said, "because obviously students are all starting from different backgrounds, and they all have different levels of history."

English 1 and 2 would be courses that would be sequenced. "It would really be a 20-week course," said Chad Raphael, chair of the core curriculum revision committee.

Raphael said the proposed core would allow for the diversity, ethics, third religion and civic requirements to be taken within a themed pathway.

"Very often people complain about the core being a kind of a checklist of isolated classes that don't really relate to each other," Raphael said. "So we want students to make connections between those classes better than we're doing right now."

The proposed themes include: Cultures, Arts and Ideas, Science, Technology and Societies, Globalization, and Environment and Sustainability.

When the committee returns to discuss possible changes, it will be two members short. While they began with seven professors, both Michael Kevane, former committee chair and professor of economics, and Aleksander Zecevic, professor of electrical engineering, left at the beginning of January for previously planned research.

Raphael, an original committee member, replaced Kevane as chair, but no replacements were added.

"I think the feeling at this point was that it would take so much time to bring a new member up to speed on all of the conversations that we've had at the 150 meetingsâ?¦ that the remaining five members could probably do the job at this point," Raphael said.

Since the release of the report, members of the committee have met with groups of faculty, students and administration to hear feedback on the proposal.

"Clearly, not everybody on campus is going to have the exact same vision of what students need to learn," Raphael said.

Once the proposal has been finalized, the faculty and the Board of Trustees must vote on it.

"I think the absolute soonest that the new core would be implemented would probably be the fall of 2008," he said. "And it's really going to depend on how long it will take the faculty to feel comfortable that this is a new direction we should take."

Contact Mary Georgevich at (408) 554-4546 or mgeorgevich@scu.edu.