The FMS major, described by one professor as an “increasingly core discipline in all liberal arts institutions,” will be available starting with the Class of 2014. The major is projected to require 12 classes, including three core required classes and nine electives, which can be taken in a variety of departments. An optional thesis will also be included. The major is intended to formalize and unite many different classes that are already taught at the College into an interdisciplinary major that draws from many departments and caters to individual student interests.
“Our assumption has been that a new major can best meet current and future curricular needs that no one department can address or, indeed, foresee,” explained the ACFMS in the proposal submitted to the faculty. “While film study at Amherst began in the English department some 35 years ago, and while production classes have been offered regularly by Five College faculty over the past decade and at various times by faculty in Art and Art History and Theater and Dance, the new digital media have now diffused themselves throughout our entire curriculum and require, accordingly, new forms of College-wide cooperation.”
According to the proposal, the ACFMS intends for Amelie Hastie, a new tenured professor who will arrive at the College next semester, to act as the “scholarly anchor” of the FMS major. While the initial proposal for the creation of the major, which was submitted last year, included at least one other full-time employee for the major, budget considerations have caused the ACFMS to drop the request.
However, it is possible that a request for another “anchor”, encouraged by several faculty members during the meeting, will be made. The proposal stated, “In the future, we hope that the departments of Art and the History of Art and Theater and Dance will be able to hire an artist specializing in one or more image/sound media to teach a variety of classes in production, such as video or other forms of multimedia. It is hoped that these two appointments will, in the long run, help staff the major’s required introductory and senior seminars and its general education offerings, though we expect current faculty will also remain involved in teaching these courses.”
Additionally, the new major will differ from the Five College Film program in which Amherst does not currently participate in a significant way. According to the proposal, “where the Five College program focuses narrowly on the traditional study of film, we think it advantageous to situate the study and practice of film in its aesthetic, technical and socio-cultural dimensions within a wider history of media, analog as well as digital. Our major differs also in its intention to integrate formal and historical analysis with hands-on production experience in each of its required classes.”
One of the more controversial aspects of the proposal was the idea of limiting the number of film majors to 15 students. While the proposal lacked concrete methods of limiting the number of majors, one idea included the offering of a general FMS introductory course that could possibly lead to a small, self-selecting group of majors. After a long discussion in the faculty meeting, during which many faculty members voiced concern over the imposed limit, it is unclear whether or not the major will be limited to 15 students.