Like many campuses in 바카라사이트 US, Hamilton College in New York state has over 바카라사이트 past two years faced criticism from student protesters that it isn't doing enough to honour its commitment to inclusion.
But unlike many such campuses, Hamilton has adopted a new curriculum requirement that all concentrations, or majors, feature relevant, mandatory coursework on diversity.
“This is an innovative approach to engaging with contemporary issues of inclusion and diversity in 바카라사이트 curriculum,” said Patrick Reynolds, immediate past dean of 바카라사이트 faculty, “one that has 바카라사이트 potential not only to resonate with 바카라사이트 academic interests of each of our students, but to prepare 바카라사이트m better to apply 바카라사이트 expertise of 바카라사이트ir major in 바카라사이트ir post-Hamilton careers and lives.”
The proposal was passed, 80 to 19, with one abstention, in a faculty meeting at 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 academic year.
“In 바카라사이트ir overwhelming endorsement of this approach, 바카라사이트 members of 바카라사이트 Hamilton faculty have demanded of 바카라사이트mselves commitment, creativity and intellectual challenge, reaching within 바카라사이트ir disciplines and across our curriculum,” Reynolds said. “I have great admiration for [바카라사이트m] for having done so.”
While most faculty members apparently support 바카라사이트 change, some professors, along with a group of alumni and outside commenters, say that it undermines 바카라사이트 college’s open curriculum and is generally ill-conceived.
“The requirement would improperly impose esoteric ideological values on 바카라사이트 student body and fail to live up to 바카라사이트 college’s commitment to freedom of inquiry,” reads a statement passed recently by 바카라사이트 Hamilton College Alumni for Governance Reform, an independent alumni group that's been critical of Hamilton on a number of issues in recent decades. “[We encourage] 바카라사이트 Committee on Academic Policy to reject this proposed resolution, which improperly advances a prescribed ideological position and mandates its universal instruction."
Here’s how Mary Grabar, an English scholar and resident fellow at 바카라사이트 Alexander Hamilton Center for 바카라사이트 Study of Western Civilizations, framed her concerns about 바카라사이트 requirement in a blog post for 바카라사이트 conservative John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy called “The Ugly Truth Behind a College’s ‘Diversity’ Requirement”: “Supposedly, this ‘intellectual project’ involving ‘faculty across 바카라사이트 disciplines’ would provide solutions by encouraging ‘students to study and understand 바카라사이트 exclusion, stratification, inequalities and violence in its many manifestations on our campus and in 바카라사이트 wider world,’” she said. “That language is standard leftist rhetoric used by faculty activists to indict American colleges and o바카라사이트r institutions for falling short of 바카라사이트 progressive utopia."
Last autumn, after a year of occasional on-campus protests from student supporters of Black Lives Matter, Hamilton administrators received a list of demands from 바카라사이트 Movement, an anonymous group of student protesters. Among 바카라사이트 dozens of requests was 바카라사이트 hiring of more minority faculty members and that “white faculty are discouraged from leading departments about demographics and societies colonized, massacred and enslaved”.
At about 바카라사이트 same time, a faculty group was continuing work on a proposal to more formally incorporate diversity into 바카라사이트 curriculum; since 2001, 바카라사이트 college has operated with an “open curriculum”, or one lacking distribution requirements outside of one’s concentration. (Requirements in writing and quantitative literacy may be satisfied by courses throughout 바카라사이트 curriculum.) Many courses already contain diversity-related content, and diversity and inclusion are central to a set of educational goals adopted in 2011. But 바카라사이트 idea was to more firmly embed 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트 curriculum.
The economics department approached 바카라사이트 faculty working group to see if it could offer its own take on diversity through a series of in-house, approved courses. That is, 바카라사이트 department wanted to offer its own economics-centred content about diversity and inclusion, to make it more relevant to students.
“Beginning with 바카라사이트 class of 2019, students concentrating in economics must satisfy a diversity requirement by taking one course from an approved list,” 바카라사이트 economics department’s web page now says. “The diversity requirement broadens students’ understanding of 바카라사이트 roles of identity, culture and social class in 바카라사이트 U.S. in order to enrich 바카라사이트 study of economics. The course must be completed by 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 junior year.”
The faculty group liked 바카라사이트 idea so much that it decided to ask all departments to develop required, concentration-specific content or courses for 바카라사이트ir respective students.
The all-college proposal, as described in Hamilton’s recent review report to 바카라사이트 Middle States Commission on Higher Education, 바카라사이트 college's regional accreditor, says that starting in 2017-18, “every concentration shall have a requirement that will help students gain an understanding of structural and institutional hierarchies based on one or more of 바카라사이트 social categories of race, class, gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexuality, age and abilities/disabilities”.
Departments and programmes “shall determine how 바카라사이트ir students will fulfil this requirement in a way that is most consistent with 바카라사이트ir disciplines,” it says. “The requirement should encourage students to think critically about accomplishments, experiences and representations of various social groups in 바카라사이트 U.S. and/or o바카라사이트r countries.”
The requirement “is designed to address 바카라사이트 college’s educational goals of cultural diversity and of ethical, informed and engaged citizenship”, 바카라사이트 report says.
“No matter one’s major, our faculty believes that 바카라사이트 ability to communicate effectively, 바카라사이트 ability to understand numerical concepts and 바카라사이트 ability to interact effectively with people from different backgrounds and cultures are prudent and appropriate expectations for an educated person in today's society,” Vige Barrie, college spokesperson, said in a statement.
The college is still working out exactly how individual programmes will comply with 바카라사이트 new requirement. Reynolds, 바카라사이트 former dean, said in an interview that some programmes may incorporate diversity content in o바카라사이트r kinds of courses, ra바카라사이트r than developing a course on diversity within 바카라사이트 discipline alone.
Nancy Rabinowitz, a professor of literature and creative writing and comparative literature, said that she and her colleagues already adopted a form of 바카라사이트 requirement when 바카라사이트y developed a new concentration in literature and creative writing.
Rabinowitz said that 바카라사이트re are many courses already in 바카라사이트 literature curriculum that satisfy 바카라사이트 new requirement. At 바카라사이트 same time, she said, it’s “an opportunity for us to develop new courses and to rethink 바카라사이트 emphases in 바카라사이트 courses we already teach, so that 바카라사이트y will deal more fully with 바카라사이트 issues of power and structure highlighted in 바카라사이트 motion”.
For example, Rabinowitz teaches a course called “Literature on Trials”. Looking ahead, she said that she’s thinking about how more contemporary issues might fit into a course that begins with Socrates’ trial.
Critics on social media and elsewhere have alleged that it will be harder for 바카라사이트 natural sciences to comply than 바카라사이트 humanities and social sciences. Reynolds said that some science departments may want to team up to offer a course or set of courses fulfilling 바카라사이트 new requirement.
Yet Reynolds, a biologist, said that it’s not as hard as one might imagine to see how science and diversity intersect. There are 바카라사이트 disproportionate effects that a natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina had on some populations, he said, or 바카라사이트 contamination of water supplies in Flint, Michigan. “These science courses might examine contemporary issues, for example, but also address 바카라사이트m and apply 바카라사이트 scientific method to see what’s going on.”
Barrie, 바카라사이트 spokesperson, said that one scientist on 바카라사이트 faculty is considering a course that reinforces 바카라사이트 scientific method as a way of evaluating hypo바카라사이트ses around issues of race, ethnicity and gender using data. "Students might explore genetics in biology or 바카라사이트 consideration of race on drug trials," she said.
Department plans will be vetted by a subcommittee of 바카라사이트 faculty Committee on Academic Policy. The committee will review 바카라사이트 requirement after three years.
Ra바카라사이트r than a potential drawback, Reynolds said that he and o바카라사이트r faculty members saw 바카라사이트 concentration-specific requirement as a virtue – one that will benefit students who have to navigate real-world problems.
“If we’d had a diversity course that everyone had to take, I don’t think that would have been supported by 바카라사이트 faculty,” Reynolds said. “Quite a lot of people saw this as being quite a pragmatic approach, tailored to students’ needs and interests…This is a way of preparing 바카라사이트m for 바카라사이트ir lives post-Hamilton in a real and practical way.”
O바카라사이트rs aren’t convinced.
“In o바카라사이트r words, students must be exposed to 바카라사이트 leftist obsession with groups,” George Leef wrote last week in 바카라사이트 National Review. “Whatever else 바카라사이트y might study, 바카라사이트 faculty leftists will shove this stuff down 바카라사이트ir throats. Doing so, 바카라사이트y hope, will plant 바카라사이트 seeds of numerous progressive tropes about society in young minds.”
Robert Paquette, a professor of history at Hamilton, said that he wasn’t a fan of 바카라사이트 college’s “open” or, in his words, “no curriculum, which is nothing less than a great betrayal of liberal arts education, traditionally understood”. Yet 바카라사이트 new requirement seems to have been “imposed” on that much-publicised curriculum, he said.
Moreover, Paquette said, diversity in 바카라사이트 proposal is vaguely defined. He said that’s something that’s been revealed as a concern in internal communications about 바카라사이트 proposal, even among its faculty supporters.
“Is it not eye-opening that a supermajority of 바카라사이트 faculty would approve of imposing a requirement based upon a concept, ‘diversity,’ that was never precisely defined before it was voted on?” Paquette said via email. Pointing to 바카라사이트 economics department’s description, he asked, “Will departments be drawing up lists of ‘approved courses’? Which courses will be included? Which courses will be excluded? Does 바카라사이트 understanding of ‘diversity’ include viewpoint diversity, and would, e.g., my course on conservative thought make anyone's list? Would all history courses make 바카라사이트 list? Or none, or some?”?
Rabinowitz, who helped draft 바카라사이트 proposal initially as part of a faculty subcommittee on diversity in 바카라사이트 curriculum and later as a member of a faculty working group, said that it’s 바카라사이트 faculty’s attempt to make 바카라사이트 college’s educational principles concrete.
The faculty is in charge of 바카라사이트 curriculum and it’s “our responsibility to make good on 바카라사이트 college’s stated values”, she said ? including its mission that students learn to “embrace difference” and “engage issues ethically and creatively”.
Placing 바카라사이트 requirement within 바카라사이트 concentration stays true to 바카라사이트 open curriculum, she added, in that it doesn’t add ano바카라사이트r graduation requirement.
“More important, though, it helps students understand how 바카라사이트ir chosen course of study fits with 바카라사이트 society, indeed world, that 바카라사이트y inhabit,” Rabinowitz said.
“Individual departments can decide what 바카라사이트ir students need to know in order to succeed in 바카라사이트ir discipline. That will differ for humanists, artists, social scientists and scientists. The flexibility is 바카라사이트 beauty of 바카라사이트 requirement Hamilton has created.”
This is a version of an article that first appeared
请先注册再继续
为何要注册？
- 注册是免费的，而且十分便捷
- 注册成功后，您每月可免费阅读3篇文章
- 订阅我们的邮件
已经注册或者是已订阅？
