Last year, a group of students worked with professors to develop a curriculum for a new Politics, Philosophy and Economics concentration at Brown. But roughly a year after the initial planning of the concentration, PPE is still not officially incorporated into the University's curriculum.
The proposal for the curriculum was drafted last year by a group of Brown students under the guidance of John Tomasi, associate professor of political science and director of the Political Theory Project, and Adam Tebble, then the assistant director of the Political Theory Project. Tebble left the University this summer.
Described by Tomasi as an "initiative within the Department of Political Science designed to stimulate discussions on morally charged political" topics, the Political Theory Project wholeheartedly supports plans to institute a PPE program, Tomasi said. However, he noted that the project's role in supporting the implementation of PPE has been limited to "providing resources to independent concentrators."
A program focused on examining how modern society functions, PPE appeals to students like Andy Garin '09, an independent concentrator in PPE who said he was disappointed by the University's lack of "real interdisciplinary social studies concentrations."
Garin said the move to introduce PPE as a new concentration has stalled because of disorganization, but he said PPE is still a valuable program. "PPE is for people eager for a deeper understanding of politics and society by tying together aspects of economics, psychology and even religious theories," he said.
For the past few years, Garin knew he wanted to focus his studies in an interdisciplinary field involving political science, but he acknowledged the difficulties of instituting such a wide-reaching concentration as PPE at Brown. "There are currently no faculty working on the program right now, resulting in no one taking on responsibility to spearhead the program at this time," Garin said.
But according to Tomasi, the PPE proposal has not been stalled - it is actually still in the planning stages. The next step is for members of the Political Theory Project to "talk to fellow colleagues and see if there is enough student and faculty interest."
Given Brown's academic diversity, Tomasi feels PPE would be met with University-wide support. With continued student interest, PPE will always be a possibility as it "invites students to straddle the social scientific and humanistic divide," Tomasi said.
The only potential reservations from the administration concern financing the program, finding "an agency to sponsor the program" and "determining whether new courses would have to be added," Tomasi said.
Like Garin, Henry Shepherd '08 has long had an interest in participating in a program such as PPE. A political science concentrator who transferred to Brown from New York University as a sophomore, Shepherd spoke with Tomasi about pursuing an independent concentration and found other students also looking for different approaches to political science topics.
The program may be attractive to students who are looking for "the distinctions between disciplines to be brought down," Shepherd said.
Shepherd also acknowledged the difficulties of instituting a PPE program at Brown. Creating a new concentration "is not a simple process, because it is difficult to work through from beginning to end," Shepherd said, noting the planning group's inability to effectively present the proposal to the College Curriculum Council, which approves new concentrations. Shepherd said he realized the stalemate is "as a product of conflicting and busy schedules."
Though the movement to institute PPE as an official concentration at Brown is still in its early stages, interested students and faculty are now asking, "Should we go on to bring forth a formal proposal for PPE to become a concentration?" Tomasi said. As those who "drafted the PPE template for students engaging in independent concentrations are now a year older," some of the University's newest students may show interest in spearheading efforts to make PPE an official concentration, Tomasi said.
Lucy Sedgwick '11, who is considering a career in international law, said PPE would prepare her well. "While in my high school, I was exposed to an interdisciplinary approach to learning. I like to see the world in the big picture, and a concentration like this would allow me to do that in my education," Sedgwick said.
