Every student at Whitman takes Encounters, but a student’s actual experience can vary greatly depending on their professor and year.
This fall, first-year and transfer students will explore the latest incarnation of the course, which focuses on the theme of “Transformations.” The “Encounters: Transformations” syllabus, which was first used last year, has undergone some changes based on feedback from Encounters professors. However, while the new syllabus has addressed several concerns commonly raised by students, there remains no direct avenue for students to provide feedback on the course.
All of the changes to the syllabus were made in response to feedback from Encounters faculty. While professors can share feedback from students with the Encounters Curriculum Subcommittee (ECS), students have no way to express direct input on the course, as course evaluations at the end of the semester focus on individual professors. While the college solicited some general feedback , this feedback went to the administration rather than the ECS.
During finals week last spring, current sophomore Ali Holmes distributed an online survey about the Encounters curriculum, to which 58 students, roughly 15 percent of the first-years at the time, responded.
“My philosophy going into this isn’t that I didn’t like [Encounters], because I really did. There were just certain problems that I thought could be addressed, and that it would be helpful for them to have some direct student feedback,” said Holmes.
Holmes’ survey found that students generally want there to be fewer texts read in favor of more in-depth analysis of those that remain. This issue has been addressed in this year’s new syllabus. The survey also found that students wish Encounters sections were more consistent in the amount of work assigned. As things are, professors must assign a minimum number of pages of written work over the semester, but as there is no maximum number of pages, the amount of written work assigned varies widely from section to section. Students who did the survey also expressed concerns about the minimal emphasis placed on the historical and social context in which each text was written.
Those who took the survey responded strongly in favor of there being some formal means to submit feedback on the actual content of the Encounters curriculum.
Holmes plans to share the findings of her survey with Associate Professor of English Gaurav Majumdar, who begun his term as director of Encounters at the start of this fall semester. The director of Encounters is chosen by President George Bridges and Provost and Dean of Faculty Timothy Kaufman-Osborn to serve a two-year term leading the ECS. The director of Encounters designs the syllabus should the faculty decide to change the theme of the course, and makes revisions to the curriculum at the end of each academic year. Every three years, the entire faculty vote on whether to retain the current Encounters theme or adopt a new theme proposed by one or two professors. Majumdar and Associate Professor of Foreign Language and Literature Zahi Zalloua proposed the current theme, Transformations, in the spring of 2011.
“We considered what themes would appeal to us,” said Majumdar. “We decided the theme of Transformations is both broad enough to cover a very large historical and conceptual range, and we were drawn to it mainly because it allowed us to offer the faculty and students a set of texts that we found very attractive and rewarding.”
After the Encounters faculty approved the new theme, the ECS decided on the specific texts which make up the different units of the course. Professor of Politics Paul Apostolidis, who completed his term as director of Encounters last spring, led the revision of the syllabus, removing four texts and introducing three new ones in their place. Most of these changes were driven by circumstance, the notable exception being Euripides’ The Bacchae, which was removed to allow students more time to discuss the other texts.
While this change was made without direct student input, it addresses one of the primary concerns stated in the survey: The more texts you read, the less time you have to discuss.
Last year, Bill McKibben’s Eaarth filled a space on the syllabus reserved for a book whose author will visit campus. As McKibben will not be returning this spring, Eaarth has been replaced with Late Victorian Holocausts by Mike Davis.
Another change was inspired by Encounters’ cooperation with the Harper Joy Theatre. After the success of incorporating a performance of Shakespeare’s The Tempest into the curriculum last year, the Encounters faculty have decided to make a live production a regular part of the curriculum.
“We had this great experience last year when they put on The Tempest, so we thought if we identified another pair of plays for that unit, and if they were a pair of plays Harper Joy wanted to produce, we could line up another two years of cooperation,” said Apostolidis.
To continue the partnership with Harper Joy Theatre, The Tempest and its partner-text, Aimé Césaire’s A Tempest, have been replaced by Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which will be performed in the spring of 2014 and 2015, respectively.
