Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC)’s College Council held the second meeting of the spring semester on Thursday, Mar. 21 in the South Lounge at 11:30 a.m. The agenda of the meeting included gaining provisional approval from the members for three possible majors, including musical theater, humanitarian affairs and fashion and culture. With provisional approval, the Rev. Robert R. Grimes, dean of FCLC, will be able to take the majors to the board of trustees for further discussion.

The first of the three possible majors discussed was musical theater. According to Rev. Robert R. Grimes, dean of FCLC, developing a musical theater major will attract more students in attending FCLC. “Students come to us and ask if we have a musical theater program and we say no and they say goodbye. It is a deal breaker for them,” Grimes said. Grimes also stated that the location of FCLC in the midst of the capital of musical theater serves as an encouragement to develop the program at FCLC. The council provisionally approved the music theater major.

The possibility of fashion being a major was brought up next by Grimes resulting in disagreements within the council. Grimes stated that student interest in fashion is high according to the test design course that was available in the fall semester and another one available within the current spring semester. However, sociology and anthropology Professor Jeanne Flavin did not support the major as she was concerned about the limited resources of her department.

Gwenyth L. Jackaway, associate chair of the communication and media studies department was supportive of the possibility of a fashion program. Jackaway also said she showed an interest in interdisciplinary courses within the fashion major encompassing communications as well. History Professors Doron Ben-Atar and Hector Lindo-Fuentes both suggested moving on with the proposition of the major and continuing conversations on resolving issues that other departments have with the major.

The third topic addressed in the meeting was the development of a humanitarian affairs major. Grimes stated that part of the reasons that the major was proposed was due to the success of the humanitarian affairs minor. Ben-Atar opposed the major because it would be led by a non-academic group, the Institute of International Human Affairs (IIHA). Lindo-Fuentes was supportive of the major, saying that the major goes well with the mission of the University and that the interest in social justice is great. This major was also provisionally approved by the council.

An upcoming event at FCLC is the research fair on April 11. Due to the cancellation of the fall research fair because of Hurricane Sandy, this fair will be significantly larger, displaying projects from the whole year according to Rev. Robert R. Grimes, S.J., dean of FCLC.

While the new Fordham Law School is scheduled to open in 2014, there are plans of relocating the current Quinn Library at FCLC into the library used in the current law school. However, one main concern regarding the relocation of the library, according to Grimes, is the limited amount of space in the current law library compared to that of the Quinn Library. This will require some of the resources to remain in the Quinn Library as well.

College Council will hold a third meeting on April 18 at 11:30 a.m.