Faculty, trustees get to the 'core' of the problem, changes to come
By Jason Allgire
Staff Writer

"Faculty will try to develop some kind of course work that helps freshmen understand what a liberal arts education is all about and that excites them about a liberal arts education."
...Acting President William Ferguson

According to Ferguson, the "excitement" is only beginning.

At the Oct. 13 meeting, the Albion College Board of Trustees passed a resolution in favor of both a "freshman experience" and a reduction of the core requirement.

And that's not all. The trustees also approved the faculty's method of reducing the number of tenure-track faculty by five.These cuts will come in the following departments: english, music, physical education, speech communication, and economics and management. Once these positions are vacated, they will not be filled.

All these changes were proposed this fall by the Educational Policy C ommittee.

The trustees' resolution states: We enthusiastically accept the faculty's timetables and proposals to reduce the core curriculum, implement a freshman experience, and in addition, evaluate and update the core curriculum to reflect a changing world and changing expectations about education."

This is as specific as anyone can get right now.

So what is a freshman experience?

It's up to the faculty to decide. Patricia Visser, professor of biology, chairs an EPC sub-committee that will plan the program.

Although still in its early stages, plans are already set for the pilot program to have no more than 100 freshmen and up to five courses for next year, according to William Bartels, professor of geology and EPC chair. The sub-committee will decide what types of classes will be offered.

One suggestion is a seminar class: topical in nature, it would eventually involve all faculty.

Based on next year's pilot program, the sub-committee will institute a full-fledged freshman program starting in fall, 1997.

Another sub-committee has been formed to revise the core.

Paul Loukides, professor of English, chairs this sub-committee. Its job is to "figure out what it is we want core to be," Bartels said.According to Ferguson, "core hasn't been looked at in its totality in 25 years."

But due to the trustees' vote, it now could be radically changed.

One idea is to have classes to teach skills that the sub-committee deems necessary for all students.

Or, the move could be for a "much more liberal" core, Bartels said. "Liberal" means having students take several classes, then individually choose the rest of their required number of classes...as long as they aren't taken in their majors.

A core reduction plan will be voted on by the faculty this year.

"To have trustees, faculty and administration together on the teaching is very exciting," Ferguson said.