At Town Hall, Students Urge Revision of Nine Ways

On a campus already in flux, Barnard students gathered at a town hall meeting Wednesday night to discuss changes in the school’s general education requirements, the Nine Ways of Knowing.

Attendees at the Student Government Association-hosted event, which was held in James Hall, voiced questions, comments, and concerns on such topics as incorporating issues of race and ethnicity into the curriculum.

The Nine Ways of Knowing, created in 2000 by the Committee on Instruction, an organization comprised of both students and faculty, requires Barnard students to take courses within nine different categories of study ranging from Reason and Value to Laboratory Science in order to graduate.

The gathering was a follow-up to another town hall held this fall, which drew over 100 people to discuss making alterations in Barnard’s curriculum to address recent campus hate crimes. “Barnard women are well-equipped to go out in the world to talk about feminism—we should be more equipped to talk about the issues like race and ethnicity in the world,” SGA Representative for Diversity Svati Lelyveld, BC ’08, said. “Nine Ways of Knowing does not necessarily do that—we have to go out of our way to make it happen.”

The idea of changing the curriculum is not a new one. “Questions today are questions we grappled with 10 years ago,” Associate Provost Flora Davidson explained as she, along with Dean Dorothy Denburg, presented students with information about curriculum changes that occurred 10 years ago.

Some attendees claimed that curriculum expansion would improve overall student life. “I think that there are a lot of students with different backgrounds, and because we are not conscious of it, we are not considerate of it. It is important to understand different perspectives—and this sort of thing should be brought into the classroom,” Bethanie Mangigian, BC ’11, said.

Students must now wait to see if the changes they discussed are implemented. “There are things that require short-term, medium-term, and long-term change,” Davidson said. “Some things move more quickly. Even if we were to change the requirements tomorrow, it wouldn’t work because we have to wait for a new class.”

Many felt that the town hall marked a good first step. “Hopefully, this discussion will enrich the members of the COI and provide more incentive to act sooner rather than later,” SGA president Laura Stoffel, BC ’08, said. “Change is going to stem from the COI, and these forums are about two-way communication.”

brooke.mazurek@columbiaspectator.com