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EDITORIAL: Business challenges liberal arts
Change in rhetoric needed
Editorial | 3/3/09
Posted online at 9:21 PM EST on 3/2/09
/ Last updated at 4:09 AM EST on 3/2/09
On Thursday, the Faculty Senate will be voting on a proposal to form an undergraduate Business major. The proposal has sparked an ideological debate between those who believe that a student who takes upward of 10 classes in business (already a minor) and economics should get credit for his or her work and those who believe that a Business major will only take Brandeis farther away from the liberal arts ideology. What the issue comes down to is whether Brandeis ought to be and, in fact, is a liberal arts school.
The goal behind forming a Business major is financial: to attract more students. Unlike with other attractive majors, such as Engineering, establishing a Business major will require little initial investment since the University already offers Business classes and includes a graduate International Business School.
However, some members of the community don't believe the Business major is worth the damage it would do to the University's liberal arts ethos. Not only is business far from a liberal art, but also some think the establishment of a Business major would attract a different group of students than those Brandeis usually admits. Brandeis is absolutely thought of by its community as a liberal arts school; it's heavily marketed as such to prospective students and is frequently described as such by students and professors. However, Brandeis' liberal arts identity begs questioning.
The Board of Trustees' resolution to sell the Rose Art Museum's collection is only one high-profile item on a laundry list of Brandeis' recent slights to the liberal arts. In 2005, there were plans to cancel the Linguistics major, the Music Composition graduate program and the teaching of ancient Greek. Only major public outcry narrowly saved those programs from their demise. Cutting University Seminars and increasing class sizes in foreign language classes (and considering the disposal of that requirement completely) are some of more recent changes that go against Brandeis' liberal arts reputation. There are also noticeable absences in several programs-for example, there is no historiography core class for History undergrads, yet the registrar's Web site lists five statistics classes offered this semester alone.
The goal behind forming a Business major is financial: to attract more students. Unlike with other attractive majors, such as Engineering, establishing a Business major will require little initial investment since the University already offers Business classes and includes a graduate International Business School.
However, some members of the community don't believe the Business major is worth the damage it would do to the University's liberal arts ethos. Not only is business far from a liberal art, but also some think the establishment of a Business major would attract a different group of students than those Brandeis usually admits. Brandeis is absolutely thought of by its community as a liberal arts school; it's heavily marketed as such to prospective students and is frequently described as such by students and professors. However, Brandeis' liberal arts identity begs questioning.
The Board of Trustees' resolution to sell the Rose Art Museum's collection is only one high-profile item on a laundry list of Brandeis' recent slights to the liberal arts. In 2005, there were plans to cancel the Linguistics major, the Music Composition graduate program and the teaching of ancient Greek. Only major public outcry narrowly saved those programs from their demise. Cutting University Seminars and increasing class sizes in foreign language classes (and considering the disposal of that requirement completely) are some of more recent changes that go against Brandeis' liberal arts reputation. There are also noticeable absences in several programs-for example, there is no historiography core class for History undergrads, yet the registrar's Web site lists five statistics classes offered this semester alone.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Miles
posted 3/03/09 @ 9:28 AM EST
So do the sciences fall under those subjects contributing to the "death of liberal arts" ? God forbid a Brandeis student wants to major in something practical. (Continued…)
Daniel Liebman '12
posted 3/03/09 @ 11:20 PM EST
While disagree with the notion that business is wholly incompatable with a liberal arts education in the first place, I believe the argument that a business major will in any way harm Brandeis as an institution is simply rediculous. (Continued…)
Daniel Ortner
posted 3/10/09 @ 6:04 AM EST
This isn't an especially well written editorial. We have lots of non-Liberal arts majors with no criticism levied. I don't remember any wide dismay from the editorial board that we have a new multi-million dollar science complex, for instance. (Continued…)
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