Western Culture in the Ivy League

By Arthur J. Monaco | Wednesday, May 22, 1996

Although the schools of the Ivy League are bonded by athletics and name recognition, they vary greatly in the way they deal with the Western Canon. On one end of the spectrum is Columbia. Its Core Curriculum program is extensive and mandatory for all students (TDR 5/1/96, TDR 5/15/96). At the other end is Brown. At Brown, students are not required to take any specific courses. There are no distributive requirements. This gives the student a vast amount of choice. Western civilization courses can be studied or avoided.

Dartmouth is somewhere in between these two schools. However, according to College historian and professor of history Jere Daniell '53, we are really much closer to Columbia. Dartmouth has always had a core, Daniell said, but it was slightly different when he was an undergraduate.

The foreign language component has always been a requirement. The distributive requirements from 1953 resemble those for the class of 1997 and earlier: four classes in the humanities, and four classes in the social sciences. This was changed for the class of 1998 to the series of eight distributive categories, described in last week's issue (TDR 5/15/96).

Daniell cites two reasons for the change. First, the loose distributives allowed students to take four classes in one area, while ignoring others. For example, a student could fulfill his humanities distributive by taking four classes in religion, while wholy ignoring classics, art history, philosophy, etc.

The new, stricter distributives solve that problem, as well as allowing for new trends in academia: knowledge of hard sciences, a non-Western requirement, etc. The second reason for change is simply, 'People change.' According to Daniell, 'the world in which we live is becoming increasingly specialized. Modernization allows you to be able to compete in the world.'

A casualty of recent years, 'The Great Issues Course,' was once required of all seniors. Every Monday night, the entire senior class met in 105 Dartmouth Hall to hear a different speaker. According to one alumnus, class of 1960, 'We heard people speak on every conceivable topic, from every possible point of view.' Students were then required to write papers on twenty of the speakers.

According to Barbara Creeder, a staff worker in Baker Library Special Collections, the program was disbanded in 1966 by a vote of the faculty. The vote was recommended by the Committee on Educational Policy.

Humanities Council

Between the extremes of Columbia and Brown, the other Ivies have their own method of dealing with Western culture. Princeton University has a specific Council of the Humanities. The Council of the Humanities was founded in 1953 to foster teaching and research in the humanities,' according to Princeton University literature. However, the Humanities Council does not focus solely on the classics: 'It is the home of a wide array of interdisciplinary courses and programs, including those in the Creative Arts.'

A program rather than a department, the Princeton Council of the Humanities consists of professors from a range of fields — philosophy, classics, theater and dance — and includes such luminaries as Toni Morrison. In 1995-1996, courses offered included, 'Approaches to the Renaissance and Enlightenment,' 'The Bible in the Western Cultural Tradition,' 'Masterworks of European Literature,' 'The Classical Roots of Western Literature,' 'and Studies in American Africanism.' Short-Term Visiting Fellows have included David Sedley, a reader in classics at Cambridge University, who 'is best known for his studies of Epicurus and Hellenistic philosophy,' and Barry Moser, 'a distinguished printer, illustrator, graphic designer and printmaker.'

Directed Studies

Yale University offers a freshman program similar to Columbia's core, called Directed Studies. The program is exclusive. Incoming freshmen must apply to be accepted. According to Professor Stephen Smith, the coordinator of the program, Directed Studies is a 'year-long, foundational,' program, which seeks to study the classics of the Western tradition.

Directed Studies is very 'broad based,' according to Smith, and consists of three components. The first is literature, which begins with Homer, and continues to modern times. The philosophy component begins with Plato and runs through the British philosopher Lugwig Wittgenstein. There is also a section on history and politics. It examines political thought, beginning with Herodotus, and ends with Nietzsche. According to Katherine Helser, who works in the Yale admissions department, the course is 'taught by full professors in seminar format.' She also notes that it is probably most famous for 'having a paper due each week, on Friday.'

The program was started in 1946 as a course for servicemen who were returning to Yale. Since then, it has developed into a highly praised freshman program. Current enrollment numbers 85, but the course will be expanded for the first time 'in a long time,' next year to 125 students.

Western Culture in the Ivy League

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