Spring Term: Canceled

The spring semester of 1997 has begun. Shopping period is well underway and the usual hectic search for classes is back. This year, however, classes have been even more crowded than usual and choices have been extremely limited.

One reason for this shortage of available classes is that 31 courses have been canceled this semester. The department most negligent in this regard is government, which has canceled 11 courses, including six junior seminars. Students who need these 90-level courses to graduate may be unable to get into any of them and will have to wait until their senior years. Some of these government seminars as well as courses in other departments were not even mentioned in the supplement to the course guide, leaving students stranded as they shopped. In the sea of brackets [indicating a course not offered this year] and cancellations, available courses are few and far between.

To our dismay, two Cores--Literature and Arts A-12: "The Story of Arthur" and Social Analysis 54: "American Society and Public Policy"--were canceled as well. Core cancellations are particularly onerous because the Core is extremely limited. This year, Core classes seem to be among the most popular (actually, they are just the most crowded) because there are so few offered. In Historical Studies B, for example, 10 courses have been bracketed this year and only two are available for the current term. Moral reasoning is offering one lonely course: "Reason and Evaluation." Is it a wonder that these three classes are jam-packed?

Even though our calls for Core reform have fallen on deaf ears, in light of this year's selections, we feel compelled to make our plea again: make distribution requirements so that, for example, History 1619: "The American Revolution," can count for History B. Historical studies B courses currently include the comparable "America and the Civil War" and "America and Vietnam." In addition, certain departmental science classes can fulfill the Science A and B requirements.

Short of this proposal, the administration must extend the number of courses available in each Core subject. If the students' well-being is not enough of an incentive, perhaps that little issue of U.S. News and World Report that comes out in the fall will be.