What do you think your parents would say if they found out you were taking a class at Tufts to become a mime? How about a class on Ireland? Or Madonna?
The Experimental College, located in Miner Hall, offers classes that pick up where "regular" Tufts classes leave off. With such offerings as "Hindi and The Power of Storytelling," the Ex College has been providing an escape from the standard academic track for several decades.
Many students find Ex College classes to be a refreshing diversion from the University's standard scholarly pursuits.
"Ex College classes are something that are different and that you normally wouldn't learn," junior Aditi Gupta said.
Since its first class in 1964, the Ex College has been offering classes that have spanned traditional subjects from political science to English to drama. But the classes don't always count toward degree requirements.
Many upperclassmen comment that they have not considered taking an Ex College class because of all the graduation requirements they need to fulfill. Others said that, until this year, the college didn't offer a very extensive selection.
The spring semester brings such classes as "Express Yourself: A Cultural Study of Female Pop Icons" and "Mime: Performance and Technique." Classes as completely untraditional as the mime class are expected to bring many students to Miner Hall on the first day of classes in a desperate attempt to be one of the few that will fill the seats for the semester.
Even though the number of Ex College offerings has increased and the topics that they cover are more varied than ever, some students feel that there are still not enough classes that fulfill requirements.
"While they all certainly sound [as] interesting as they always do, I noticed that not as many actually fulfill any distribution or major requirements this time," senior Karen Wang said.
The Ex College has always tried to be on the cutting edge of learning and ideas. In 1976, American Sign Language was first offered through the department. Eight years later, it was finally merged into the Child Studies Department where the high demand for spaces in the class far exceed the number of available.
Rape Aggression Defense, taught by RAD-certified Tufts police sergeant Linda O'Brien, has been a staple of the Ex College curriculum since 1994. With the high demand by women to learn self defense against rape and other attacks, students line up at 9 a.m. to be one of the first to sign up for this course.
Wang also noted that in comparison to other semesters, there are more Ex College classes being taught by students for next spring.
The course listings for the past semester indicate that 100 percent of Ex College classes were taught by teachers who were non-Tufts undergrads. Next semester's preliminary course listing designates 17 percent of the instructors as undergraduate students.
The instructors who are not undergrads come from a wide variety of occupations and fields. Ranging from a former Tufts' president - John DiBiaggio - to students in the Fetcher School to four-time Emmy winning journalists, the Ex College offers classes taught by highly skilled individuals in an assortment of careers.
The "hot" classes in the past few years have focused on the surging economy and the stock market. But with the recent downturn in the economy, there will be no stock market class offered for the upcoming semester. To pick up the slack of waning interest in economic-based classes, the Ex College is offering three classes that focus on terrorism or the effects of Sept. 11 on some aspect of life.
"[I was] wondering if all of the courses centering on terrorism will be filled enough," Wang said, adding that the problem might be alleviated if the classes could count towards a political science or Middle Eastern studies requirement.
Other students are concerned with getting blocked out of classes, causing them to change their entire schedule since registration for Ex College classes occurs well after students have already registered for their regular courses.
"[I'm] a little scared of the fact that the registration isn't until the first day of classes," junior Meg Roessel said. "I mean, what happens if I banked on taking a class and I didn't get it?"
But students recognize that taking a well-balanced diet of basic and "eccentric" classes makes for an academically healthy, happy schedule.
"Well-rounded students become well-rounded people, [so] why wouldn't you want to take an Ex College class?" junior Thomas Dionne asked.
