Student groups urge changes in core curriculum

By Jeremy Herb

Santa Clara is currently undergoing a major review of changes to the core curriculum requirements, amid concerns from some student groups that the university should offer more courses on diversity.

In as early as fall 2008, a new core curriculum could be in place. The current core was last revised approximately ten years ago.

The core curriculum is the set of classes that all students must take to graduate. Each college within the university can add additional requirements that students must meet.

While faculty on the committee have been largely silent on what changes could occur, several groups, including Feminists United, the Women's and Gender Studies Club, the Ethnic Studies Club and the Multicultural Center, are planning to give students the chance to voice their opinions in an upcoming panel discussion. The discussion will address ethnic and women's and gender studies in the core.

In addition, all of these groups are planning to circulate petitions asking for faculty, staff and alumni to support the separation and addition of these requirements.

"It shouldn't be something that students are forced to choose between," said Meghan Hennessey, a member of Feminists United. "It's one of the first things we brought up and wanted to take on in Feminists United."

Right now, a women's and gender and ethnic studies requirement is not in the core, but is an additional requirement that the College of Arts and Sciences has mandated. Students are required to choose between taking one or the other.

The Leavey School of Business and the School of Engineering do not require women's and gender studies or ethnic studies courses.

Changes to women's and gender and ethnic studies core classes have received support from one faculty member, Linda Garber, who directs the women's and gender studies program.

"I know that a lot of universities do the -- take either an ethnic studies or a gender studies course -- and it's widely considered an outmoded way of educating for diversity," Garber said. "If students themselves are complaining that they're not getting enough diversity education, then that seems to me to be a charge to do something more extensive."

The upcoming core revisions coincide with the university's Future Directions project, which is a discussion within the university on how to adapt to education in the 21st century, while maintaining a Jesuit identity.

According to Professor Michael Zampelli, S.J., a core committee member, the core curriculum serves as backdrop to the university's Future Directions, because it gives Santa Clara graduates a common set of skills.

Seven faculty members were chosen for the committee that will revise the core, headed by professor Michael Kevane. One student representative, chosen by Associated Students, will also be a part of the committee.

According to Sarah Bonnel, a member of Feminists United and co-president of the Women's and Gender Studies Club, the petitions for ethnic and women's and gender studies will help to show that a diverse community at the university supports changing the requirements.

"I feel it's needed because some students can come into the campus and go through the education system here and not be exposed to ethnic studies at all," MCC Assistant Director Victoria Duran said. "If you look at the world around you, it's full of diversity, and it's something that should be implemented within the core curriculum here."

However, Kevane and other members of the committee said that they did not yet know how they would address women's and gender and ethnic studies.

Starting next quarter, the revision committee will officially begin work to revise the core. According to Kevane, they plan to gather input from any interested groups before going forward with recommendations.

The current timeline for the project is to have a proposal prepared by January 2007, according to Kevane. That proposal would have to be approved by both the Faculty Senate and the Board of Trustees.

When the core was last changed, the university did not have an environmental studies program, and the women's and gender studies department was small. In addition, the university has also added the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education and the Center for Science, Technology, and Society.

The student-led panel discussing proposed core requirement changes will be held Monday, March 6, at 5 p.m. in the Kennedy Commons.

Contact Jeremy Herb at (408) 554-4546 or jmherb@scu.edu.