Editorial: Give the Core curriculum a much-needed trim

It's sat untouched for more than two decades, and Seattle U's Core curriculum is begging for a makeover.


Provost Isiaah Crawford has already been gathering critiques of the program for a year. And Jeff Philpott, Seattle U's director of Core Curriculum, has also pledged his support to the project.

But how ought we rethink the Core?

Remodeling the program will be a twofold endeavor. First, it will require slimming down the Core.

Students enter as freshman eager to dabble in a variety of fields and sample from a smorgasbord of electives.

The Core Curriculum is a 15-course bundle of classes totaling 73 credit hours. While some students can cash in on Advanced Placement credits to get out of a few entry-level classes, many students can spend up to a third of their time parked in Core classes.

Seventy-three required credits is overkill. It leaves some students, like nursing majors, with one elective in four years. Engineering majors have none.

Downsizing the core will allow students to taste new electives and flirt with new ideas.
An equally important project in renewing the program will be approving more courses to count as Core requisite classes. While some students will still choose to take a generic ethics course to check off their basic requirement, others might benefit more from a course that delves into the theoretical underpinnings of ecofeminism.

By refashioning the core into a more flexible program, students won't begrudgingly view their classes as a waste of time or tuition dollars. Professors will also enjoy more freedom to develop courses that align with their personal expertise.

Downsizing the Core and making it more fluid will require ample collaboration between university administrators, students and professors.

Professors teaching interdisciplinary classes could ask their students to pour out their gripes with the Core—and their visions for its future—in a short essay. University officials could draw from these essays to construct a new Core.

Unless the university wants to create leaders for a just and humane world who lack sufficient skills for their professions, the Core needs to be slimmed down and attention turned to major requirements and elective options.