The closing of the Stanford mind occurs not when faculty members engage in social activism outside the classroom, but when a focus on courses as training grounds for social activism marginalizes or crowds out courses that have no such aim.
Despite concerns about impact from the Faculty Senate’s recent decision to substantially reduce freshman requirements, officials expect little immediate change in Structured Liberal Education (SLE) programming.
While the Faculty Senate declined after contentious debate to begin requiring introductory seminars (IntroSems) for freshmen, as recommended by the Study of Undergraduate Education at Stanford (SUES) report, both University administrators and SUES members have welcomed this revision to the report’s recommendations.
The Faculty Senate closed the book on the Introduction to the Humanities (IHUM) program by voting on March 8 in favor of replacing the program with a one-quarter “Thinking Matters” course, scheduled to launch this coming fall. Although IHUM was a quintessential fixture of the Stanford experience for recent students, it was only the latest edition in Stanford’s history of freshman liberal arts programs, an undergraduate tradition that is nearly 90 years old.
Concluding a multi-year review of the methods and goals of a Stanford education, the Faculty Senate voted Thursday in favor of replacing the current Introduction to Humanities (IHUM) program. Freshmen will instead be required to take a one-quarter “Thinking Matters” course starting this upcoming academic year.
Requiring IntroSems will enhance the overall quality of undergraduate education at Stanford.
Faculty have largely extended a warm welcome to Thinking Matters, the freshman requirement proposed as a replacement to the Introduction to the Humanities (IHUM) program by the recent Study on Undergraduate Education at Stanford (SUES) report. The shift may occur as early as fall 2012.
The Faculty Senate discussed financial conflicts of interest and proposed changes to freshman-year academic requirements at its meeting Thursday.