At Brown, students tackle tough questions every day: They wrestle with organic chemistry, untangle streams of consciousness in Faulkner and talk — openly and unflinchingly — about love.
Roman Gonzalez '11, the independent studies co-coordinator for the Curricular Resource Center, and Lauren Kay '11 are the leaders of the group independent study project, "The Study of Love," which encompasses philosophy, neuroscience, religion, psychology, sociology and anthropology. On Monday and Wednesday nights, their group of 13 students gathers to think, to read about and to discuss love — at Brown, and everywhere else.
Outlets for love
Much like any other class at Brown, students in "The Study of Love" receive college credit, homework and a faculty advisor, Associate Professor of French Studies Virginia Krause. But the course topic and discussions are entirely student directed.
The class syllabus, constructed by Gonzalez and accessible to the public on the course website
loveatbrown.com, is loosely divided by Helen Fischer's model of romantic love: lust, romantic love and attachment. Required readings, which were carefully selected by Gonzalez or recommended by Brown faculty, range from the works of Ovid and Shakespeare to primary scientific literature on the neurobiology of love.
"I really want it to be a rigorous, scientific study of these things," Gonzalez said.
As he began to develop the class, Gonzalez said, he realized that while there are a number of outlets to discuss sexual health and behavior on campus, there are virtually none available for love or romance.
"We want people to be talking more about it," he added. "To be talking more about love, what it means and whether they're okay with what it means."
Justine Palefsky '13, a cognitive neuroscience concentrator in the class, had never even heard of GISPs until the beginning of the fall semester, she wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. When she learned of the class that was all about love, she jumped at the opportunity to take part.
"It's such a powerful force culturally that I feel like you've got to be curious about how and why it happens, and what it means to people today," Palefsky wrote.
Part of what makes the class work, Kay emphasized, is that every single person actually wants to be there.
"Everyone has a different reason for taking this course," Gonzalez added. "I want 13 different projects, 13 different paths."
Finding love at Fish Co.?
The group, which counts heavy weekly readings, student-led discussions and a 10-15 page research paper as part of their workload, still manages to handle things a bit differently than most Brown classes: they recently took a field trip.
"We went to (the Fish Company) and asked people if they were in love," Gonzalez said. "There would be people who would be hooking up in front of us, they would say no, and then keep hooking up."
Of the experience, Kay said that a lot of what happened at Fish Co. made her uncomfortable, but she found it to be an interesting place to observe the dynamics of Brown students.
What we are "trying to get at here is what is relevant to love," Kay said. "To a historical analysis of dating — to what's actually going on after Fish Co., and before."
Ultimately, everyone in the class is required to take part in one of two final projects for the course. Gonzalez is taking charge of the creation of a 30-minute documentary and Kay's group is in the process of developing a survey that she hopes to eventually publish.
Gonzalez, who has a strong interest in filmmaking, said that he plans for the documentary to include both class discussion and interviews with students and faculty. Clips of videos, in which students on the Main Green are asked if they've ever been in love, and how they know, are currently available for viewing on the course website and Facebook page.
The survey the other half of the class is developing has its roots in a similar project Kay did in her sophomore year. The original survey, which focused mainly on sexual behavior, has been expanded by the group into a 14-page series of questions about everything from marriage to sexual behavior and beliefs.
"We want the survey to focus on love, not just sexual behavior," Kay said. "I want to get it out there to more than just Brown students."
Kay said she hopes to distribute the survey to students in large lecture classes by the end of the semester and to publish the results within a year. The group is currently working with professors to seek approval from the Institutional Review Board for the survey.
Love's labour won
Ultimately, Kay said she would like her experience to be about changing perceptions — in the class, at Brown and throughout the world.
"I want people feeling happier about the cultures in which we live and the things that we do," she said. "Dating and romance can be really wonderful things, but they're not always."
While Gonzalez came into the study with experience — both as a participant and creator — of previous GISPs, it is a novel path for many of the students in the class.
"We aren't learning for the sake of regurgitating material on some final exam," Palefsky wrote. "We are doing this for the sake of our own exploration of something that profoundly interests us."
Kay, who had never completed a GISP before her senior year, spoke passionately of the benefits of a student-driven class, remarking that everyone should take part in at least one during their time at Brown. "It wasn't one of my issues to fight for, and now it is," she said.
Though both Gonzalez and Kay are set to graduate in the spring, they hope that the project will extend into next semester and beyond. Gonzalez is already planning his next GISP: "The Science, Psychology, and Philosophy of How and Why We Fall out of Love, and Why Love Fails."
"The project should continue," Gonzalez said. "I think it needs to continue."
