Responding to an increasing demand for interdisciplinary education as well as to the political climate that has emerged following the events of Sept. 11, the College is now working to establish an Interdisciplinary Winter Term Institute this year that would focus on Sept.11 and its political repercussions.
This on-campus course, After Sept. 11, would bring together a range of College community members for interdisciplinary discussion and forums culminating in a creative group project. While this course is an experiment in interdisciplinary education and winter term programming, organizers hope to make this year’s program a model for a permanent campus fixture.
Other Sept. 11 related events such as the Student Senate sponsored discussion panel and the Anti-War Teach-In also chose an interdisciplinary approach, suggesting the utility of interdisciplinary learning for this multi-faceted issue.
“It would be difficult for the study of politics to be done in an isolated way, and certainly the only way to fully understand Sept. 11 is through an interdisciplinary approach. I am surprised an Interdisciplinary Institute hasn’t been done before, it sounds like a great idea. Students will be exposed to new areas of study and things they haven’t seen before,” professor of politics Deborah Schildkraut said. Schildkraut plans on leading an “After Sept 11” seminar on American political opinion and the role of President Bush.
Although each year the college facilitates a variety of on-campus Winter Term programs, the extended January break increasingly serves as a time to pursue educational opportunities beyond Professor Street, leaving many empty beds. “One of the problems of winter term is the decline of the number of students on campus,” Dean of Arts and Sciences Clayton Koppes said.
As fears of terrorism and war heighten, it is expected that on-campus options will appeal to students and especially their parents. Other community oriented goals motivate program organizers though.
“One of my larger concerns with Winter Term is building a vital intellectual community within Oberlin. I hope that this project is dangerous in one way: in the questions that we are asking. It is a different kind of risk, a different kind of danger. The kind we need to go toward, not the kind that keeps students behind closed doors or shuttered windows,” professor of English and Winter Term Director T.S. McMillin said. In efforts to encourage a broader range of college-sponsored learning opportunities faculty voted last spring to add a new, more academically oriented project category to the winter term program.
“While there have been great [winter term] programs done with the Conservatory, theatre and dance, interdisciplinary academics are lacking… I don’t think that students or faculty get the whole of the educational experience because of the separateness of our academic departments. By approaching a broad topic and bringing in all parts of college community, not just the humanities, we can invigorate study,” McMillin said.
Historically, Winter Term has been a time for faculty and students to work together in areas not widely studied in existing College departments. Environmental Studies, one of the college’s most popular interdisciplinary departments, came out of a 1970s Winter Term program called Human Kind Tomorrow. With its flexible, independently defined structure, the five week term encourages students to explore areas that they may not normally Presto into their academic calendar.
“I think the College offers good things [for Winter Term] but I am more interested in the fact that the college forces you to do something but its structure allows you to design the learning yourself,” sophomore Matthew Josephson said.
The added academic project category does not attempt to impede on winter term’s flexibility, but to encourage faculty initiative on fresh programs such as the Interdisciplinary Institute. And while a greater depth of on-campus programming should encourage more students to remain at Oberlin this January, a large chunk of students still plan to pursue goals elsewhere.
“Last year I went to Montreal where I had the opportunity to learn French through being in a French speaking place and traveling independently. This year I am also going abroad to study,” junior Amelia Rock said.