A new Encounters syllabus has been approved for the 2015–16 academic year, with Encounters faculty voting in favor of the new curriculum by an approximate 2-1 ratio during a meeting on April 21. The syllabus, which will remove five texts and add four new works, was created by the Encounters Curriculum Subcommittee with the aim of reducing reading and providing more time for discussion of the materials in the syllabus.
During their April 12 Senate meeting, ASWC passed a resolution calling for content or trigger warnings in the future Encounters syllabus. The resolution, which will require faculty approval in order to be implemented, was created in the hopes of preparing students for engagement in particularly difficult materials.
Performances of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet were held March 5th to 9th in Harper Joy Theatre (HJT) as part of the collaboration between Whitman’s Theatre Department and the Encounters faculty. This is the second year HJT has incorporated a performance of one of the texts in the Encounters syllabus.
