The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate recently passed a resolution asking for departments to make "an open-minded evaluation" of whether Experimental College courses can count for major or distribution requirements.
On Mar. 12, the resolution passed 16 to three with one abstention.
"The resolution is not demanding anything," said senior and senator Kate Drizos. "It is a student voice requesting [they] look at classes."
Saying that the ExCollege is a "University-recognized program," and "has an extensive process by which it selects courses deserving of credit," the resolution asks that departments that have rarely approved ExCollege courses in the past "reconsider the process by which they evaluate relevant courses."
Students may petition any department to have a course count for credit. But Drizos, who is also an assistant editor in the Daily's Arts department, hopes departments will consider adhering to the current system, which has departments review ExCollege courses before students must petition for credit.
"The ExCollege, for other
departments, submits possible courses [that may count for credit]," she said. "They used to submit a list like this to the political science department, but stopped" because they received little attention.
Jeffrey Berry, interim chair of the political science department, maintains that students may receive political science credit for any course taken outside of the department, including ExCollege courses and courses taken while abroad.
According to Berry, the course would then be evaluated based on its reading list, the student's written work, and the credentials of the instructor.
Finally, the department would decide whether it measured up to department standards.
Berry asserted that these standards are rigorous, making the distinction between "public affairs" classes and political science classes.
A public affairs class focuses on a "current event or contemporary problem," while political science courses "utilize methodology that is rigorous and are tied to certain standards of evidence and [are] typically theoretically ambitious," Berry explained.
Having both worked for the ExCollege and pursued a political science major, Drizos said she has never seen an ExCollege class count towards a Political Science major at Tufts.
"I've seen and taken some courses that I was surprised [didn't count]," Drizos said. "In my own experience, these courses would have been very helpful to me as a Political Science major."
One such course was "The Horse Race: The Press and the Presidential Election" a course offered in Fall 2004.
According to the ExCollege website, the class used "the 2004 presidential campaign and election to assess how the press [performed] its most important role, that of providing the public with full and accurate information."
Drizos said "The Horse Race" was one of the "most politically relevant" classes she has taken at Tufts, but it did not count toward her Political Science major.
Freshman Jennifer Bailey, a recently declared Political Science major and a walk-on member of the Senate Education Committte, is well aware of the issue.
"There's really interesting classes in the ExCollege that I would take, if I had time," she said, but fulfilling the major requirements is her first concern.
"It's manageable but annoying," Bailey said.
Were the resolution's suggestions adopted, the Political Science department would still have concerns, according to Drizos.
ExCollege instructors would be required to speak to the department, and the class's reading list would need to include works by a political scientist.
Drizos acknowledges that the concerns are fair. "[The resolution is] not demanding anything concrete; [it is] a very amicable request."
