Over the past few months, I, like so many others, have been thinking a lot about what it means to be getting a liberal arts education. At a time when the world is changing with the advent of new technologies, changing markets and constant commentary from family friends that artificial intelligence will leave us unemployed, “Why liberal arts?” is a question that has become even more important.
At Tufts, we’re always talking about the unique classes that a liberal arts college offers. I’ve taken classes that span from a look at how the law controls our society to a seminar about different types of building materials, with obligatory social psychology classes in between.
Tufts bridges gaps by bringing together parts of academia that don’t conventionally intersect. The different schools of the university include Arts and Sciences, Engineering and the Museum of Fine Arts — with more graduate schools covering law and diplomacy, health sciences and civic life. Since we have direct access to so many different disciplines, it’s no wonder that Tufts students often double or triple major.
At this moment, there’s a clear need for a defense of academic institutions. We are watching a massive, coordinated attack unfold on education by a federal government and political party that looks to destroy academia as we know it. The American Association of Colleges and Universities published “A Call for Constructive Engagement” in late April with signatures from over 600 college and university leaders — including Tufts President Sunil Kumar. Tufts has already made clear that it will stand up against the persecution of its students, like in the case of graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk, and respond to efforts to stifle research through indirect cost caps by suing the National Institutes of Health and filing a declaration in a lawsuit opposing the Department of Energy. Tufts must rise to the challenge and be a leader in this movement by upholding its core values of civic engagement and defend its — and every academic institution’s — role in our society.
In parallel, it’s becoming more important than ever to think about what Tufts’ response to the changing world should be. It’s becoming more important than ever to respond to the changing needs of a space based on thought and action while the value of a college education is being questioned.
Tufts should bring together the undergraduate experience by consolidating all undergraduate schools under a coordinated brand called “The College,” encompassing every undergraduate student no matter their degree. Currently, all undergraduate students are generally referred to as Arts and Sciences, Engineering and SMFA at Tufts. Instead, referring to undergraduate students as students of “The College” is simpler and allows for further specification of Arts and Sciences, Engineering or the SMFA where needed. Using “The College” could create a more cohesive identity than “AS&E students (including SMFA at Tufts)” in conversation.
“The College” would acknowledge the interdisciplinary nature of a Tufts education and stop students from being divided into different schools, functioning similar to nearby Harvard University with its Harvard College. The college experience at Tufts is intertwined between the various schools and programs, and reviving an old term could represent our common undergraduate experience to the outside world.
One major (or minor?) problem is majors and minors themselves. Without a doubt, double majoring and adding multiple minors is an alluring idea.
If many are majoring in multiple areas and exploring fields beyond that, does our system of majors and minors effectively recognize the work of students? Tufts students are earning the benefits of exploring many fields through the foundation, distribution and major requirements, but it would be naive to think that there isn’t importance in recognizing the individual pathways that students are undertaking for all of the opportunities that come after Tufts. You get to be specialized in many different disciplines, but isn’t there a better way to convey what we’ve covered?
Tufts should redefine how our coursework is represented. Degrees are conveyed as a Bachelor of Arts, Science or Fine Arts, but we should add more information to the major students choose. Someone could be majoring in psychology, but we could add a descriptive title like “with environment and political action.”
We should represent the individuality in everyone’s coursework like an interdisciplinary studies title would. Being interdisciplinary should be a core part of the Tufts identity as seen by the world. By virtue of being a student here, everyone should have a minor in interdisciplinary studies.
All of this is to say that Tufts should embrace interdisciplinarity. It might be time for new terms to change the paradigm of how Tufts presents itself and its students. Why is Tufts’ greatest strength a secret only for those who dare to seek it out? There’s no one path forward, but I hope there are steps we can take from here.
