Results of Core Reform May Take Years to Show

Only about half the students at the College will see the results of the Core reform legislation the Faculty passed this Tuesday.

Administrators and professors say it may be years before there are enough classes to implement the new Quantitative Reasoning class requirement, and providing more course choices will take at least two semesters.

Under the new plan, the Faculty said at least six classes would be offered each semester in every Core area. In addition, the subcommittees which already screen courses for the Core will be asked to review their guidelines to make them more inclusive. A further amendment would allow some regular concentration classes into the Core if the subcommittees approve.

Before students see any changes in the course listings, however, the Standing Committee on the Core and its area subcommittees, which are responsible for choosing new Core classes, must develop a new set of rules to govern which concentration courses will meet Core objectives.

"Clearly, the Standing Committee and the subcommittees are going to begin next fall talking about expanding the number of choices that students need to have for Core credit," said Susan Lewis, director of the Core program.

Pointing to the long discussion period which typically accompanies a major institutional change such as the Core reform, administrators said the transition process may take years.

"You're talking about courses which the committee views as appropriate," Lewis said. "The committees and their chairs haven't even had a chance to think and talk about it."

Clowes Professor of Science Henry Ehrenreich, the chair of the Core subcommittee which approves science courses, echoed Lewis's sentiments.

"The business of vetting courses is something that you can't put on line immediately," Ehrenreich said. "You have to set some sort of guidelines about how far you're willing to go."

According to Lewis, the "target date" for instituting Quantitative Reasoning Requirement (QRR) as a course requirement and phasing out the statistics test all undergraduates are currently required to take is 1999-2000, when this year's first-years are seniors.

The formulation of the QRR sub-field is further delayed because the committee is currently minus a chair, Lewis said. Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Jeremy R. Knowles is conducting a search for the professor who will be instrumental in defining the new requirement.

No current College students will be subject to the new requirements. They will, however, reap the benefits of increased Core course choices.

Dean of Undergraduate Education David Pilbeam, who heads the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE), said that the standing subcommittees may need at least two years to find eligible concentration courses.

"For the year after next, I would hope that we'll see quite an influx," Pilbeam said. "In the catalog two years from now, I hope we'll be pretty close to target.

No current College students will be subject to the new requirements. They will, however, reap the benefits of increased Core course choices.

Dean of Undergraduate Education David Pilbeam, who heads the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE), said that the standing subcommittees may need at least two years to find eligible concentration courses.

"For the year after next, I would hope that we'll see quite an influx," Pilbeam said. "In the catalog two years from now, I hope we'll be pretty close to target.