Cultural studies requirement discussed

The USG discussed recommending the institution of a cultural studies requirement in the undergraduate curriculum at its meeting Sunday.

Most members agreed that a better understanding of different cultures and the way they interact is important, but opposed the idea of adding another distribution requirement to the 11 A.B. and 7 B.S.E requirements already in place.

USG president Leslie-Bernard Joseph '06 called the recommendation "a strategy for the University to have a conversation with itself about whether or not the curriculum is focusing on cultural issues."

The Registrar's office appended a list of courses dealing with "race, ethnicity and cross-cultural encounter" to its course offerings for next fall. The list contains 76 courses in 28 different departments.

Joseph said the discussion arose from responses to the USG's Survey on Race and Campus Life report.

In the survey, 40 percent of respondents said they had not taken a course that focused on an area outside the United States or Western Europe. Also, 40 percent said that their academic experience at Princeton had not significantly improved their understanding of another culture.

Freshmen made up the majority of these respondents. A quarter of seniors responded that they had not taken a course on an area outside the United States or Western Europe.

U-Councilor Sandy Gibson '06 objected, saying the question was "just badly phrased."

"I've taken five classes on this list but I still wouldn't have responded 'yes' to that question on the race report," he said, referring to the list in the course offerings booklet.

But Gibson also expressed concern about "the 25 percent of people on this campus who will leave without having studied anything outside of the U.S.," saying that it was "important for everyone to leave here with a more global outlook."

"But for 75 percent of people on campus [the requirement] won't make any difference at all," he said.

Many members pointed out that several individual academic departments, such as history and politics, already have an internal requirement similar to the proposed requirement.

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"I think everyone thinks that this issue is important, but it's not important enough to be its own separate thing," head delegate of the Ivy Council Jay Saxon '05 said.

Members also discussed alternatives, including making it a requirement within individual departments that don't already have an analogous prerequisite and cross-listing courses so that students could fulfill both an existing distribution requirement along with the proposed cultural studies requirement.

USG members agreed that the requirement should create a general awareness of cultural issues.

"It's less studying something outside your own culture, it's more about studying issues of culture, of race, of diversity," U-Councilor Amy Saltzman '05 said.

The USG had tabled discussion on the issue at its meeting last week due to a lack of substantial information regarding the consequences of a cultural studies requirement.