The Western College Program is set to undergo its biggest change since it became a part of Miami University in 1974.
Having lost its divisional status in 2006, it will undergo a remodeling, and reopen no later than the 2009-10 school year as a program within the College of Arts and Science (CAS).
In early March, a committee was drawn up to plan the new program. The charge given to the committee by Karen Schilling, dean of CAS, is to "develop and shepherd through the relevant approval process a plan for a new program in the College of Arts and Science to be called the Western Program."
Composed of members from a diverse group of departments within the university, the committee held a meeting April 24 to find out what students had to say about Western and Miami in general.
"We need to be committed to the democratic ideal of what education is, and if we're committed to that, it needs to be a fully participatory process," said Peggy Shaffer, program director of American studies and one of the committee co-chairs.
Shaffer added that the committee plans to hold additional student forums.
Similarly, the committee's other co-chair and professor of interdisciplinary studies, Chris Myers, said he plans to keep an open ear to Western's alumni. He said so far, reactions from Western alumni have been mixed.
"I think it's a small minority that has written Miami off (following the decision to close Western), but there are those on the other side rallying for support to make this something Miami can be proud of," Myers said.
Myers said that he hopes to have an ongoing seminar, where students, alumni, faculty and other interested people can regularly express feelings on the issue.
At Tuesday's meeting, Shaffer asked students - even those outside of Western College - to talk about what transformational experiences they have had in college. Students also spoke of what they would change or keep about Miami.
"A huge difference that Western makes is that they connect theory to practice and global issues," said Stephanie Lee, a senior interdisciplinary studies major.
Jessica Ruff, also a Western College senior, spoke on the merits of Western College.
"One thing that Western does really well is it takes students outside of their disciplines," Ruff said.
Most of the details regarding the future of the program are still up in the air. However, Myers, a 1983 Western alumnus, said he hoped to retain most of the features of Western, such as the living learning communities and its individualized degree option, which allows students to essentially create their own degree.
"I think Miami needs an individual path to a degree," Myers said. "There will always be students that want to come to Miami whose plans don't fit an existing degree, so that path to an individualized degree is something I'd like to see continue."
Senior zoology major Nick Teets said that while the individual degree option was beneficial, it had the potential to be abused by students, whether they are a part of Western or not.
"I think there's a fine line with the attitude of learning for the sake of learning because some people will take it to an extreme and will only learn what they want to," Teets said. "If you don't think something is important, you might still have to learn it."
However a few students expressed concern that certain traditions of Western might fade, as in fall 2008 there will not be an incoming first-year class enrolled in the program.
Myers added that during the time without the program, the residence halls on Western Campus will remain occupied by students, and classes will still be offered. The classes are likely to be opened up to non-Western students as well, he said.
Shaffer said that she believes that with the proper planning, the redesigned program will offer students everything and more that those who came before them benefited from.
"I felt like this was an opportunity to develop an innovative educational model that could become a national model, to allow students and faculty to learn, teach and share knowledge in ways that hadn't been conceived yet," Shaffer said.
