APPENDIX A

Committee on the Undergraduate Program

Charge to HASS Review Committee

Membership:

Peter Child, Chair

Dennis Adams

Alice Amsden

Peter Donaldson

Edward Hall

Megan Hepler, '99

Merton Flemings (added to committee on 8 March)

Elizabeth Wood

Bette Davis, ex officio

In October, 1994, the Committee on the Undergraduate Program approved an experiment that altered the HASS-D requirement with respect to the regrouping of categories. Originally, the formal requirement stipulated that students take one subject from category 1 (Literary and Textual Studies) or 2 (Language, Thought, and Value); one from category 4 (Cultural and Social Studies) or 5 (Historical Studies), and one from any category not previously chosen. Based on the recommendations of a HASS-D Interim Review Committee chaired by Dean Harriet Ritvo, the following experiment was developed that incorporated the Visual and Performing Arts into one of the required categories:

"The Ritvo Committee's recommendation that students be required to take one HASS-D subject from category 1, 2, or 3, one from category 4 or 5, and one from a category distinct from the other two choices will be implemented on an experimental basis beginning in September, 1995. All classes enrolled at MIT between September, 1995 and the conclusion of the experiment will be allowed to satisfy the HASS-D requirement in the form defined by this experiment even if they continue to be undergraduates after the experiment concludes. In October, 1998, the Chair of the CUP in consultation with the Chair of the Faculty and the Deans of the Schools offering HASS-D subjects, will appoint a committee to evaluate the results of the experiment and to conduct a comprehensive review of the entire HASS requirement. The committee shall report to he CUP in the spring term of 1999. This report shall include among its recommendations the conditions and timing of the end of this experiment."⁽¹⁾

At the time of the 1994 CUP discussions, it was thought that a comprehensive review of the General Institute Requirements would occur before the end of the decade and that the comprehensive review of the HASS requirement would be undertaken in that spirit. However, recent sentiment has favored a more modest review of the requirement.

As a result, the Committee on the Undergraduate Program is requesting the HASS Overview Committee to review and make recommendations to CUP on a number of issues, including the current HASS-D experiment. Your review should address the following topics:

1) What are the educational principles of the Humanities, Arts, and Social Science education at MIT? Ideally, the accounting of these principles will provide the framework for a discussion of the other elements of the HASS review. In addition, it should provide the context for the HASS Overview Committee's response to a possible new MIT degree (i.e., the Bachelor of Arts and Science) and other Institute-wide educational initiatives. Finally, the principles should provide a frame of reference for discussions about whether or not specific MIT classes (including some existing HASS elective subjects) are suitable choices for fulfilling the HASS requirement.

2) What should be the form of the grouping of categories within the HASS-D requirement? You may wish to consider a complete overhaul of the grouping scheme; for example, some have suggested a simple three-category model -- subjects in Humanities, in the Arts, and in the Social Sciences. As noted above, your review in this area should include an analysis of the current CUP experiment.

3) What are the current operational criteria governing the HASS-D requirement (e.g., final exams, prerequisites, the amount of writing required)? Are these still relevant and appropriate?

4) What will be the role of the HASS and HASS-D requirements with respect to the proposed Communication Requirement? Are programs and sections in good alignment?

5) Is the current HASS Concentration system meeting the goals of the HASS requirement? What has been the effect of the Minor on the role of the Concentration? On the need for the Joint Major program? Is the number of subject requirements allowed and the non-uniformity of requirements (three for some, four for others) appropriate? What is the quality of the advising provided to students for their choice of Concentration? Is there unnecessary paperwork involved in the process?

6) What are the objectives of the Joint Major degree programs and of the Major Departure options? Are these options worthwhile departures from the full major degree programs, and are their strengths transferable to other areas of study at MIT?

7) What are the advantages and disadvantages -- for both the School and the students -- of the current scheduling practices of HASS subjects? For example, what are the consequences for the HASS curriculum or for students of the scheduling of numerous HASS subjects during evening hours? Do the faculty feel inordinately restrained by the rest of the undergraduate curriculum (e.g., the scheduling of the large core subjects during the prime hours of the day)? [When this report was discussed at the School of Humanities and Social Science Council, all 10 department and section heads concurred that the Institute must develop a reasonable system that reduces significantly the number of scheduling conflicts between the Science Component of the GIR and the HASS Component of the GIR. Council expressed concern that the present arrangement disadvantages the HASS system by forcing too many undergraduates, especially freshmen, to abandon the HASS subjects they wish to take in order to fulfill their Science Core subjects.]

8) Finally, what is the relationship between the Distribution Requirement and Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences educational generally: When should students take HASS-D subjects? What issues arise when classes function simultaneously as HASS-D's and as requirements for HASS majors or minors?

This review should culminate in a written report presented to the CUP in May, 1999.

20 January 1999

¹ CUP Meeting Notes, 26 October 1994, including a Report of the Committee on the Undergraduate Program on the HASS-D Requirement