CEPC 99/00-1

TO: The Faculty

FROM: CEPC

RE: Declaration of Major

At the October faculty meeting, CEPC will propose the following addition to the regulations regarding majors found on pp. 48-49 in the college catalog.

CEPC proposes to add the following sentences to the first paragraph, which would now read:

One completed major is required for graduation. Students must declare a major no later than the time of registration for interim and semester II of their junior year by filling out a form available in the registrar’s office. Students are allowed to change this declaration or add a second major at a later date. Only this catalog defines the specific requirements for each departmental or interdisciplinary major…

Rationale:

There is currently no requirement that students declare their intention to major in a particular subject area. In practice, most students do in a timely fashion (in fact many believe that there is such a requirement in place already), but there are some who inform neither the department nor the registrar’s office until they come in for their initial senior audit in the fall of their senior year. This is very late for both student and department planning.

Reasons why this new regulation would benefit students:

  1. It will encourage students to make decisions that will focus their work. Once they have officially selected a major they will be encouraged to get advice from faculty members in the intended major department on what courses they should take, what they can do with their major after graduation, etc. There would be less chance that students will have difficulties completing a major because of poor planning. The fall of the junior year was selected to allow students sufficient time to explore different options before making a decision. Since it will be easy to change the declaration at any point, no one need to fear that students will be locked into an unfortunate decision.

  2. It will identify students to departments and assist departments in their planning. Many departments have newsletters, social gatherings, etc. Once students are officially identified, their names appear on the major’s email alias.

  3. IT will avoid the current problem of some students coming in for their initial senior audit in the registrar’s office with no major declared. Most colleges require the declaration of a major at a specific point in a student’s academic career.