Fordham is getting closer to having a new core. College Committee members said a proposed new core would consolidate the core requirements of Fordham College, Gabelli School of Business (GSB), the Ailey/Fordham Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) program and the School of Professional and Continuing Studies (PCS) into one.
The proposed core would shrink the number of required classes, notably some of the humanities courses of the current core. The proposal has sparked conflict between some faculty members regarding currently guaranteed funds and jobs in potential jeopardy.
The new core is scheduled to be finalized and set to a vote by the end of the spring 2025 semester. If passed, it will be in effect in the fall 2026 semester.
After four years in development, the core revision process is in its second phase out of three. The Phase Two committee is composed of professors from Arts and Sciences and GSB.
Faculty involved with the development of the new core said they are eager to see its implementation, including Johanna Francis, co-chair of the Phase Two committee for the Core Revision. Francis called the new core an important and welcome change.
“It really puts forward a vision for what liberal arts education can be at its best,” Francis said.
“I don’t know, trying to change the core curriculum for Gabelli students, I feel like, would just screw us all over.” Katarina Strenge, GSB ’28
The Phase Two committee will attempt to create a framework for the core based on the conclusions from phase one. The main goals are a lessened number of required courses, increased opportunities for students to customize their courses and a more accessible process for transfer students.
These changes have received mixed reviews from some students and faculty. Katarina Strenge, GSB ’28, said that she is worried about the replacement of business-specific classes with other subjects.
“I don’t know, trying to change the core curriculum for Gabelli students, I feel like, would just screw us all over,” Strenge said.
Strenge complained that a new core would create additional stress on top of the demands of her GSB specific courses.
“Trying to figure that all out, trying to get all of your core classes in,” Stenge said. “It’s just unnecessary stress.”
Andrew H. Clark, co-director of the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program and professor of French and comparative literature, was one of the 12 members of Phase One of the Core Revision committee.
Clark said that teaching courses with an interdisciplinary method was a key feature of the Phase One committee’s proposal. However, Clark said that the Phase Two committee had decentered interdisciplinary studies in their recent proposals.
“I think what we in Phase One had thought was the most significant part of our proposal, they had made it optional,” Clark said.
Francis said that the Phase Two committee worked hard to enact the Phase One Core Curriculum Revision committee’s recommendations.
“We’ve talked to many of the faculty who are on Phase One, and they seem pretty happy with the work that Phase Two is doing,” Francis said.
“Because the core will be smaller, it will be easier for students to take double majors plus a minor.” Johanna Francis, co-chair of the Phase Two committee for the Core Revision
Francis also said that a reduced core would open opportunities for students to pursue their own academic goals.
“Because the core will be smaller, it will be easier for students to take double majors plus a minor,” Francis said. “The core is going to have other components that can allow you to explore topics in fields outside your major.”
Associate Dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) Robert Moniot said the new core would expand interdisciplinary studies, which are currently relegated only to the Interdisciplinary Capstone Core (ICC) course requirement.
“The first planning committee was tasked with coming up with a core that is smaller and has a good rational basis,” Moniot said. “I think one of the things with interdisciplinarity, which in the present core is explicitly represented only by the ICC.”
The main vision of the Phase One Deliverables was to create more interdisciplinary experiences for students while furthering Jesuit values, such as appreciation for human dignity.
According to the Phase One Deliverables, there is no place in the new curriculum for the ICC or the currently required Eloquentia Perfecta (EP) courses. Instead, Clark said interdisciplinary and EP courses were the “general spirit” of phase one.
The main vision of the Phase One Deliverables was to create more interdisciplinary experiences for students while furthering Jesuit values, such as appreciation for human dignity. According to Clark, the Phase One Core Curriculum Revision committee’s hope was that the new core would be entirely interdisciplinary.
“In that hope was therefore to create a much more integrative and interdisciplinary based core where faculty from a variety of different perspectives and disciplines could participate in it,” Clark said. “It would be more around problem solving and thinking about key strategic and significant problems that are in our world.”
Currently, the Phase Two committee is meeting throughout the remainder of 2024. The proposed core is hoped to be submitted to the Faculty Senate for a vote this spring.
Phase Three will work to implement the new core, if it is approved by a Faculty Senate vote.
Evan Cain, FCLC ’26, said she worried about the logistics of implementation and wondered if the new core would apply to current students, or only the incoming first-years of the 2025-26 academic year.
“That would just screw all of us over,” Cain said. “I think that the new core should only apply to the freshmen.”
More information about the proposed core is to come in the spring semester.
