International relations is one of the largest concentrations at Brown and by far the biggest without a department. So it is not surprising that a recent change in the concentration's requirements precipitated a widespread brouhaha on campus. Though the revisions include a few minor changes, perhaps the most controversial is the increase in required classes from 11 to 14 in addition to a language component that could add up to six more.
Without a doubt, the increased course load makes IR the most extensive bachelor of arts concentration. Keeping in mind that most students come to Brown with enough foreign language experience to be able to fulfill the language requirement in fewer than six classes, though, the revised curriculum will probably not be any more onerous than the average bachelor of science degree.
What's more, it appears that the changes, which are several years in the making, will have a positive effect on the concentration as a whole. Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron wrote in an e-mail to the editorial page board that the increased course load is necessary because of IR's interdisciplinary nature.
According to a final report issued by the advisory committee that formulated the changes, the fact that IR does not have a departmental home and its resulting dependence on other departments and concentrations has resulted in an unsustainable breadth that harms "intellectual depth and coherence."
By consolidating the tracks, focusing the core requirements and ensuring a relationship between future IR concentrators' chosen language, course of study and possible study abroad program, the new IR curriculum should ensure that students who graduate with a degree in IR have a coherent program and specific skill set. As one member of the advisory committee remarked, the old program looked less like a concentration than a general education curriculum in the social sciences.
Some have speculated that the changes were motivated by a desire to decrease the number of students who chose to concentrate in IR. Though this might be a side effect of beefing up the program, we do not think it factored into the final decision. Claudia Elliott MA'91 PhD'99, associate director of the IR program, wrote in an e-mail to the editorial page board that many students failed to develop focused, coherent programs under the old system. The new requirements should go far toward fixing this problem.
Much has been made of the plight of second-semester sophomores, many of whom were likely blindsided by these changes. Elliott said the IR program has eased this burden by allowing flexibility for sophomores who had already taken certain classes in anticipation of fulfilling the old requirements or who had not strictly lined their language up with their other classes. We hope that any future unanticipated hardships that may be caused by this switch will be met with similar accommodations.
We applaud the thought and effort that went into formulating these alterations to the IR curriculum. The old program had some serious drawbacks, and we expect these changes will go a long way toward remedying them. To students for whom the additional classes are a bridge too far, we recommend the Department of Political Science's international and comparative politics track. To a certain degree, IR's difficulties are a result of its unique situation. But we urge other concentrations to undergo a similarly thorough self-examination — call it a second Campaign for Academic Enrichment.
Editorials are written by The Herald's editorial page board. Send comments to editorials(at)browndailyherald.com.
