Minutes
Curriculum Committee
November 14, 2006
Members: James Swartz (Chair), Gerald Adams, Eliza Willis, Erin Hurley, Lee Sharpe, Dan Reynolds, Jason Cook, Tinsley Hunsdorfer, and Michael Billups.
1. The minutes of 10/31/2006 were approved.
2. To date we have received 13 MAP assessments. Each divisional representative will contact the missing department within his/her division.
3. The committee discussed the following proposal:
Whereas the responsibility to exercise oversight of the curriculum at Grinnell College lies with the faculty and its elected representatives;
Whereas a student’s choice to study off-campus, to undertake a double major, or to embark on an independent major should not subject that student to requirements that do not exist for other students without the express consent of the faculty;
Whereas an education in the liberal arts demands that students have broad familiarity with the general areas of inquiry embodied in the three academic divisions at the College; and finally,
Whereas the faculty have approved a curriculum in which no single course beyond the first-year Tutorial shall be a requirement of all students,
The faculty resolves that each student at Grinnell College shall accumulate a minimum of twelve credits in each division – Science, Social Studies, Humanities – as a requirement for graduation.
The committee felt that other options should be considered. Options such as:
a. Empower the committees etc. to continue as they are currently doing, i.e., the status quo.
b. Have every department identity each of their courses with respect to one of the six elements of a liberal education as it is currently published.
c. Have the faculty set the rules for each operation.
d. Have no distribution requirements at all.
The committee went on to explore the potential goals for some form of distribution requirement:
a. To encourage breadth.
b. To enforce some standard “rules”.
c. To be more transparent regarding expectations.
d. To make it easier to understand expectations.
e. To prioritize OCS, 2nd Major, etc.
Two members of the committee will work on a document incorporating these ideas for discussion at divisional meetings early next semester. We will review this document at our next meeting.