As college curriculums continuously evolve to better fit the many diverse cultures previously ignored by Western Civilization courses, Colgate University defies this progressive norm. However, the small liberal arts college is in the process of revising its core requirements and finds itself to be in a position of strength, as it has the opportunity to learn and adapt from the mistakes universities like Stanford have already made.

The origin of the debate on Western Civilization at Stanford University

In January of 1987, Reverend Jesse Jackson and a group of 500 Stanford students initiated the societal debate on the Western Civilization course requirement at American universities.  Within a year of this protest, Stanford did away with its Western Culture course in favor of a much more progressive requirement called “Cultures, Institutions and Values” (“CIV”) that would implement more “works by women, minorities, and persons of color.”  The new course featured not only the classical texts read by all American college students, but also more diversified readings such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Miguel León-Portilla’s Broken Spears. While the vast majority of students and faculty members agreed that a progressive change was necessary, ultimately it was concluded that the traditional and modern texts were not implemented coherently. Therefore, the Stanford administration decided to terminate the course after just a 2-year stint.  According to an interim report written a few years after the course’s elimination, the review committee later agreed that a revised “CIV” course must be “structured around defined themes and critical questions, and must, in the main, be organized chronologically,” however an improved alternative was never implemented.

Even though this debate took place over 30 years ago, there is still much we can learn from it today.  As emphasized by reactionary remarks made by the Stanford review committee, strict attention to detail and emphasis on the coherence of the new material in unison with the old is extremely vital to the success of a revised course.  It seems as if Stanford provided a quick and easy solution to the dispute at hand at the time, and that ultimately they did not put enough thought into their revised course material.  I believe that it is essential that Colgate focuses not only on culturally diversifying their curriculum but also on the creation of an overall comprehensible theme between the utilized sources.  It is necessary for the administration to spend a great deal of time considering the consistency of the new requirements with traditional texts as to avoid making the same mistakes as Stanford.

The modern debate at Stanford

Since the removal of this “Cultures, Institutions and Values” course, an alternative course has yet to be implemented.  In 2016, however, this debate reemerged under the direction of The Stanford Review, Stanford’s independent newspaper.  They presented a petition to the student body asking undergraduates for signatures in support of the re-establishment of a two-semester Western Civilization requirement on campus.  The ballot initiative released to the school argued the importance of the teaching of Western culture and its role in shaping America before ultimately proposing the re-implementation of its teaching.  While the initiative did not gain enough ground to be considered by the Stanford administration, it is evident that the institution made the wrong decision in not further revising their replacement “CIV” course to better fit the desires of the community.

From this debate, the Colgate administration should be reassured that the reading of the “Great Books” is essential to a complete liberal arts education; students from Stanford certainly believe so.  This occurrence should reiterate the need for a more diversified curriculum and further emphasize the necessity of attention to detail throughout the revision process.  The complete removal of this course at Colgate University cannot be an option, as learned from the recent incident at Stanford, so its faculty must be sure to correctly implement these progressive changes from the start.

Colgate’s patient approach toward curriculum revision provides it with the unique opportunity of adaptation, as opposed to complete abandonment. This is a luxury that the majority of other institutions did not enjoy and should be taken advantage of further.  Overall, the university should learn from the debates at Stanford that a core overhaul is necessary, but that the administration must ensure that the new course is coherent and will be enjoyed by Colgate students and faculty as to avoid its destruction.

Matt Sgueglia is a sophomore at Colgate University. He is from West Islip, New York, and is a Computer Science major and Mathematics minor.