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Fort Lewis moving away from liberal arts

I would like to suggest that Fort Lewis College is becoming a liberal arts college in name only. Languages are being dropped left and right, the history faculty has decreased by half and the humanities and social sciences feel besieged as professors face overhauling their entire curriculum to conform to the recently imposed three-credit (only) system.

As a student, it was frustrating to see the shift in priorities as a general trend developed: the subtle but deliberate transition from the liberal arts to so-called practical programs. The Business School looms large. The switch to the three-credit system reflects the wishes of management on the part of the administration while the opposition reflects the needs of learning in the classroom.

To undermine the liberal-arts tradition, which the administration is doing (wittingly or not), only increases disillusionment among students. Professors complain of shrinking discretion in what and how they teach, threatening the quality and diversity of subject material. Everything I learned and earned at FLC is the direct result of the faculty I worked with. The professors brought to each class an infectious appreciation that what we were studying was important, that we students are increasingly going to be involved in this world and that we should educate ourselves to be prepared to understand the world around us.

The administration seemed to be interested in streamlining the entire college experience into a four-year assembly line. Colleges have always had to find the balance between efficient management and educational sophistication, but the forced three-credit change sacrifices the latter for the former. It is an increasingly corporate model.

FLC is not alone in these problems as education across the country faces an array of crises, but the college is succumbing to the negative pressure while steamrolling the protests of students and faculty.

When the most recent class graduates this semester, these issues will be far from resolved. Until they are, I am on the side of the faculty and the students. I am for a liberal arts education in our town that produces competent and critical citizens.

Scott Hunter

Durango



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