News

The Bates Student - October 31, 1997

 
 

Faculty search for light at end of tunnel - a vote

By REBECCA GOETZ
Staff Writer
 

General education requirements have been the center of discussion at faculty meetings since winter semester of 1996.

The last faculty meeting, on Oct.20, the faculty balanced discussion against action and voted on whether or not items would appear in the final version of the proposal.

The faculty passed a senior thesis requirement, a first year seminar requirement, and science, quantitative, humanities, and social/behavioral requirements, but voted against a visual and performing arts requirement as well as a cultural diversity and a foreign language requirement.

The final vote on all these issues, all of which are still amendable, will take place at the faculty meeting on Monday November 3.

Cultural Diversity requirement still possible
The cultural diversity requirement, which would have required two courses about diversity, one about diversity issues in the United States and one focusing on other societies, was voted down.

"This is a very important requirement and it should be required because most students don't take these types of classes," senior Cali Mortenson said. "We should force students to deal with issues that are uncomfortable to them. Students need to learn how internationally and nationally you fit in with the oppression of other people."

"The faculty is hung up on issues of wording these proposals, but many other schools, including one in my hometown, the University of Iowa, have these requirements," she continued.

And indeed wording was an issue for the faculty with both the cultural diversity requirement and social justice requirement, proposed in place of the original. Although both proposals were defeated, Professors Steve Hochstadt and Charles Nero worked with a group of faculty members and students on creating a new substitute proposal.

"We had a meeting with some 12 faculty members and some students and worked for language we found acceptable, and it seemed to me the language we came up with might be acceptable to the Faculty as a whole. The language is not final yet, but I hope it will be final and announced by the end of the week and then discussed as an amendment at the faculty meeting Monday," Hochstadt said.

This means that the idea of a diversity requirement of some kind is still supported by both students and faculty, and may come up for discussion again next week.

Foreign Language Requirement
The proposed foreign language requirement, which would have required two semesters of a foreign language, would also have been new to the requirement scene at Bates.

"In theory, it's a great idea, but in practice it just wouldn't be possible," Ben Kloda '98 said. "Having a first-year seminar requirement will make it even harder for professors to concentrate on 100-level language classes. Even now, most languages offer 300-level classes only every other year."

"This requirement failed because the people in Spanish opposed it," Professor of Spanish Francisca Lopez said. "We opposed it because we didn't think the College could finance the requirement, and it would have hit the Spanish department hardest. There is a conception out there that Spanish is the easiest language, and a lot of students have taken it in high school, so we have a lot of interest. We are already stretching ourselves."

Logistical questions, such as how many new professors would be needed, and what resources would be required in order to adequately deal with a language requirement helped defeat the proposal. But also some professors felt that two semesters of a language would not be enough to actually instill some knowledge of a language.

"It is important to know about languages, but what bothers me is one year of a language does not mean anything, it wouldn't help anybody learn the language. So if there isn't a good reason and the student won't get much out of the experience, then why should there be one?" Lopez said.
 


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Last Modified: 11/12/97
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