New Core Requirements Affect Humanities Department

Shea Copeland, Staff Writer

This semester, Regis College has implemented new core requirements for new students as well as some returning students that opt into it. Among the many changes is a reduction in the number of required arts and humanities courses, which greatly impacts these departments.

The new Regis Discovery Core was announced to students via email. The old core required students to take nine arts and humanities classes: philosophy, literature, art or music, communication, history, two religious studies courses, and two foreign language courses. In the new core, students now have the option to choose only two arts or humanities courses, in addition to one required religion and one required philosophy class, for a total of four required arts and humanities classes.

The new core also requires an additional first-year composition class in the spring and a “Heritage and Place” class focusing on themes of place. The two required foreign language courses have been replaced with a proficiency requirement. The former RCC Justice and Diversity courses have also been combined into one class, meaning students now have three 400-level integrative core requirements instead of four.

The new core allows students to complete their core requirements sooner but provides less opportunities for exploration if a student is undeclared in their major. Among other Jesuit schools, some cores are as large as 66 credits at Saint Louis University while others are as small as 21 credits at Canisius University. Regis’s Discovery Core is 46 credits, down from 55 credits in the old core. However, despite being a liberal arts university and not a STEM school, Regis now requires fewer humanities requirements than some STEM schools like Colorado School of Mines.

Professors and Department Chairs from the English and Fine and Performing Arts Departments weighed in with their thoughts: “Although I am disappointed by the cuts to required humanities classes, the English Department is excited to offer a new class in the Discovery Core, CW 250 Introduction to Creative Writing” said English Department Chair, Associate Professor Alyse Knorr.

While classes such as EN 250 now may not have as many sections and students in the future, there are now a variety of classes within each department that cater to students of all majors. The same thing can be said for the Fine Arts Department. “We were initially concerned about losing our guaranteed Fine Arts requirement, but we have found that we were able to offer Visual Art and Art History courses in three different core buckets: Creativity and Production of Culture/ Reception and Analysis of Cultural Productions/Heritage and Place,” said Associate Professor Robin Hextrum, Chair of the Visual Arts and Art History Program. “What we lack in a guaranteed single requirement, we have been able to spread out across the core.” Furthermore, the Music Department adjusted their classes for the new core as well. “I am pleased that our new core requirements will provide our students with a broad education,” said Chair of the Music Program, Professor Loretta Notareschi. “I am also happy that the new core is more friendly to transfer students coming into the university. At the same time, the change in the core meant that a required course in the Fine Arts Core went away, which has the potential to reduce the number of students enrolling in our department. However, we have been invited to contribute courses in two different areas of Creative Expression. So, the jury is still out to find out what the overall impact will be on our enrollment numbers.”

This is only the first semester implementing the new core requirements. There are pros and cons for the humanities departments, but the future remains unclear. This new requirement very much seems to be an experiment for Regis, where the humanities departments are both at risk and have new opportunities.