"I certainly hope students will take up an array of planning issues that have come out of the CAP report, many of which are of direct interest to students and future students, whether it be issues of access or curriculum or advising or internships. Beyond that, I will also use this opportunity to correct some of the misimpressions caused by our journalistic colleagues at BusinessWeek," remarked Marx at the meeting's opening.
Marx began by refuting fallacies in the BusinessWeek article, which claimed that Amherst was saving 25 percent of its slots to students qualified for a Pell Grant and expand overall admissions by 120 students for low-income students. "The article was the first time I heard of such a thing," assured Marx. "Journalism does sensationalize. The piece of the article I found most unfortunate [was that] it thought it fair to caricature students–to imply that legacies, athletes or minorities don't meet the high standards of the College. Our athletes and our legacy students meet very high academic standards to compete for places here and make significant contributions to the learning experience at Amherst. We value all our students, and do not take kindly to the disparagement implied by the article."
Marx assured that far from decreasing academic standards, Amherst is seeking to broaden the pool of applicants, but not by radical numbers. Only 25 students per class will be added. Contrary to BusinessWeek's claims, Amherst is not interested in jeopardizing its rankings.
With that said, Marx introduced the CAP report. "It's not just focused on access, but groundwork for thinking about Amherst College's mission, educating you and your successors to do what the world needs you to do," he said.
He went on to give an overview of the CAP report. To reach a target spectrum of applicants, there is talk of need- blind admission for internationals and reducing or even eliminating the loan component for middle-class students.
The faculty is also seeking to improve writing pedagogy and quantitative skills for existing students by proposing a writing requirement. According to Marx, this requirement does not violate the open curriculum because the plan is not to force students to take a course in which they are not interested. Rather, courses attentive to writing would be offered across the curriculum, and students would be expected to choose one.
Diversifying faculty to cover more academic ground and reforming art or science offerings for non-majors remain priorities. The CAP is concerned that students under the shadow of the open curriculum may not be sampling courses outside of their comfort zone.
Learning outside the classroom-research, lab work, study abroad or internships-will be revamped to increase opportunities and assure their quality. Marx claimed that one way to improve outside experience is to have sophomores engage in service work with community organizations and qualify for at least one paid summer internship while at Amherst. The College would have to partner with organizations to make them substantive experiences.
On the agenda were also plans to attract students, faculty and alumni back to campus for Interterm as part of an effort to build on classroom experiences. Marx vouched that Interterm activities will not be designed to be pre-professional, but are intended to inform students of career paths in which they are interested. "Say students are interested in environmentalism. That might include inviting the president of Greenpeace and the president of Exxon to spend a week together," said Marx. "There may be career advantages in getting to know one of the presidents, or both. Intellectual engagement is what we're after."
Students vocalized concerns over internships, the possibility of implementing a writing requirement, the role of the first-year seminar, a lack of ethnic studies courses and need-blind admissions for international students.
Students disputed a writing requirement. One student chose Amherst due to its lack of requirements, while another had chosen Amherst to explore different fields. Among the suggestions voiced by other students were improving writing skills in the first year at the College, staffing the Writing Center with more professionals, ensuring that the Writing Center takes a proactive role and avoids overbooking during finals, increasing access to creative writing courses and letting students decide for themselves if they need writing improvement.
Marx emphasized the importance of writing skills. "We hear from employers that writing skills are essential. For Amherst College graduates or graduates in general, they're not satisfied with results," he said. "Part of teaching how to write is teaching how to think, to martial evidence and create arguments." Marx suggested increasing the number of writing intensive courses across the curriculum.
Marx suggested using new technology for advising. He stated that encouraging students to take courses they may seem to be deliberately avoiding could make a difference.
Regarding the first-year seminar, one student proposed being able to shop the seminars, instead of basing class selection on skimpy descriptions.
In response, Marx suggested reducing seminar themes to three or five, allowing professors to teach differently, and allowing first-years to have similar issues to discuss amongst themselves.
Ron Espiritu '06 spoke up regarding ethnic studies. "I'm disappointed with CAP when it's going to reflect the next 30 years of the College's future. The College has been failing Latino students with cultural support since the 1970s. Williams College is acting more rapidly on these issues," he remarked.
Melissa Ulloa '07 lamented not having a faculty member to whom she could relate. "I don't see who I am in the curriculum. We're supposed to spread light on society, but we're not reflecting the society," said Ulloa. In response, Marx replied, "CAP did not specify the allocation of faculty in any single area. All CAP has done is to provide a framework that hasn't been the case before. At least we're moving in the right direction." Marx also added that a small college could benefit greatly from the Five College consortium.
When asked about admissions for international students Marx said, "Need blind doesn't mean we're blind. We don't disadvantage you for disadvantage." The admissions committee takes into consideration that lower-income students may have a greater struggle to excel academically.
The CAP report was initially published online to best facilitate student access, and further fora are planned. As the College enters a transitional phase in its history, student feedback on new policies will be vital in determining the direction that curricula, admissions, and advising take.