Seniors majoring in chemical engineering are complaining about the department's lack of organization.
Department chair Christos Georgakis acknowledged past confusion, but said the department has now clarified its policies.
At the center of the discussion is Biology 152: Biochemistry and Cellular Metabolism, which current seniors took during the spring of their sophomore year. They took the course without taking organic chemistry, a prerequisite.
Graham Good, Anura Patil and James Turco, all currently seniors and chemical engineering majors, said when they were sophomores their advisors told them the course was required for the major.
Good said last spring they found out they did not have to take the class.
Bio 152 used to be an elective course students could use to satisfy chemistry requirements, said Kyongbum Lee, an assistant professor in the Chemical Engineering Department.
The department decided to make the course required in the 2003-2004 year, when current seniors were sophomores, he said.
According to University-wide regulations, students are only required to complete major requirements as they existed when they declared that major. The course could only be recommended to sophomores that year, then - not required.
The course is required for this year's juniors, Georgakis said, because the curriculum is changing to include more biological coursework. It is not clear what current seniors were told during their sophomore year, which was before he came to Tufts, he said.
Georgakis said the department now recommends majors take Bio 152 as juniors. This was decided after discussions with the chemical and biological department chairs, along with engineering faculty. "That will definitely help being prepared for the course," he said.
The course demanded students understand a subject not covered in their previous courses. "It ended up being a lot more headaches and work than it needed to be," Turco said. "[The course] is much more for people in pre-med; it's too extreme."
Patil had no complaints about the work load, despite not having taken organic chemistry.
Beginning with this year's juniors, the major will be different, in part because of Bio 152. "The biochemistry class will provide a foundation for core engineering courses that have direct relevance to industry, particularly biotechnology," Lee said.
"It's a work in progress as we try to expand the curriculum," he said, "They're really the first class to experience the curriculum change."
The current seniors' concerns went beyond one class. "It's a chronic thing where we have three courses we have to take that meet at the same time," Good said.
Georgakis said he was not aware of conflict, but is willing to address specific student complaints.
Students are still unsatisfied. "It seems like a lot of the professors don't know a lot of what's going on," Turco said.
"There's not really anyone in charge," Patil said.
Georgakis defended the department. "I think we're very well organized," he said.
On Tuesday, ten chemical engineering majors met with a representative from the Accreditation Board for Engineering - a group of professional and technical societies that evaluate college and university programs.
The representative, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, talked to students about their post-graduation plans, classes and the computer labs.
One issue that arose was the study abroad options available to engineering students.
Patil, who studied in Australia last semester, said the current junior class is struggling to find abroad opportunities and professors are not helping. "They're trying to make it very difficult to go abroad," she said.
Current seniors studied abroad in London and Australia last year, Georgakis said. He is exploring the creation of an exchange program with a university in Germany and a program through Tufts in Paris.
The students had some positive feedback at the meeting. They said professors encouraged them to do research and that research opportunities were easily available.
They also said professors were always available for advising, for issues both in and out of class.
"You really get to know your professors," Patil said.
