DePauw University is well on its way to completing its "2020 Plan" with the new renovations of the Lilly Center expected to be finished up this coming fall semester. Due to the continued work on the athletic fields and the expected addition of the new dining hall, DePauw is going to look drastically different in the next five to ten years. This is an exciting time for all who are involved with the university, especially those who are part of the leadership team driving these renovations and those who have donated to the cause.
I understand that DePauw is trying to advance in the rankings of top liberal arts schools; however, it is important that these changes are made within the framework that has made DePauw University great for the past 175 years. Too many changes to the things that make DePauw unique will be detrimental to the well-rounded education that a student receives.
Instead of just focusing on the physical appearance of the university, DePauw should concentrate on investing in the experiences that the students are able to have on campus, as well as abroad or through internships. DePauw prides itself on experiential learning, and changes to unique curriculums such as Winter Term and the honors and fellows programs aim to advance the mission of the university. Yet it worries many students, faculty and alumni that these programs may soon be gone.
While other schools such as Miami University of Ohio are using the structure of DePauw's now former version of Winter Term, DePauw University administration has decided to shorten the January session and decrease the number of faculty-led off-campus trips, a popular choice for DePauw students. This shortened session makes it a lot harder for students to travel abroad, and January internships will be hard to come by as employers are not easily able to give valuable work to inexperienced students that will be around for less than a month. Classes that only last a few weeks will not be able to cover valuable material, and grading students on their Winter Term classes would limit their ability to focus on learning and force them to focus on gaining credit for their majors.
The honors and fellows programs are also being expanded. While very few details about the changes to the programs have emerged from the new leadership, many students also wonder if the effects of these changes will result in "watered-down" programs focusing more on grades rather than experience.
I believe that this is counter to what the administration wants to accomplish in the DePauw experience. Instead of focusing on fighting our "party school" reputation and fighting our notorious greek life prestige, the campus should work to continue to focus on what makes our university great.
DePauw was recently ranked as one of the top 100 American universities by Forbes and has also taken top spots in college radio stations, study-abroad schools and amount of Fulbright scholars. Instead of trying to "fix" the problems that our university may have, the administration needs to focus on advancing the unique experiences that have been drawing people to campus for a long time and focus on supporting the student experience with "the combination of intellectual engagement, co-curricular activity and experiential education."
-Forde is a sophomore economics major from Chicago, Ill.