Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) unanimously approved resolutions on Arabic instruction and language tapes Wednesday, ending two weeks of debate.
The Arabic resolution outlines the benefits and problems that may be involved with Arabic instruction at Bowdoin. "Despite these concerns," the bill reads, "it is the opinion of BSG that the Academic Affairs division of the College should address these requests for the teaching of Arabic."
Vice President for Academic Affairs Samuel Dinning '09 told the Orient the resolution "reflects the opinion of BSG that the College should be taking steps towards offering Arabic instruction at Bowdoin" and aims to "spark discussion about the best way to offer Arabic instruction to students."
The resolution suggests possible options such as night classes, small seminars, and a combined program with Bates and Colby.
While the resolution expresses BSG's support, it does not guarantee that the College will implement Arabic instruction.
In an e-mail, BSG President Dustin Brooks '08 said the bill "was carefully considered over the course of three weeks, and it accurately reflects the real challenges on this issue.
"It's a great place for us to work from in our discussions with administrators about Arabic," Brooks said.
"What's important to students and administrators when we assert an opinion is the message, not the specifics," said Vice President for Student Organizations William Donahoe '08.
"Though immediate results will be limited, it is my hope that this vote will set in motion a sustained conversation between students, faculty, and administrators," said At-Large Representative Ben Freedman '09.
Although representatives proposed three amendments to the bill, the body only passed one of them, changing the bill's wording from "the Academic Affairs division of the College should seriously consider these requests" to "the Academic Affairs division of the College should address these requests."
The next step for BSG, Dinning said, is more focused discussion with Associate Dean for Curriculum Steven Cornish, who attended the meeting, and Dean for Academic Affairs Cristle Collins Judd.
"This could take the form of campus-wide open forums to discuss Arabic or possibly talks with other schools to see how they meet this student demand," Dinning wrote in an e-mail. "After these preliminary discussions, we will be able to provide more concrete answers."
"We recognize the importance of Arabic currently," Cornish told the assembly. "We're on the verge of doing a major analysis of language instruction at Bowdoin, so it may be something that will be part of that analysis."
The resolution concerning language-instruction tapes, which was also approved unanimously, articulated BSG's support as a body for the purchase of language instruction tapes.
"It is the opinion of the Academic Affairs Committee," reads the bill, "that the Language Media Center should fund the purchase of language instruction tapes for Swahili and Arabic and that they should be made available through the Language Media Center."
Dinning said the bill is a statement of opinion and not a financial commitment by BSG.
"The language tapes bill is really exciting," Brooks stated in an e-mail, "because it's voicing our support for a discussion that's already underway."
"Initial conversations with the library have been really encouraging and we hope to have some details available for next week's meeting," Brooks added.
Also on Wednesday, the student government representatives, Cornish, and Curriculum and Education Policy Committee member James Higginbotham discussed other academic affairs. Their conversation focused on distribution requirements and advising.
"We're monitoring the effect of the new distribution requirements persistently," Cornish said. "At some stage there will be some major review of the requirements."
Higginbotham noted that the former distribution requirements dated from the 70s, or even earlier, and these needed to be re-tuned.
Some students expressed frustration towards changing distribution requirements. In reply, Cornish noted that "one of the things that you see in higher education increasingly these days is competition.
"My guess is that Bowdoin started to introduce distribution requirements as it became more aware of how it had to be in competition with other elite liberal arts colleges," he said.
Regarding advising, Cornish said Bowdoin is taking a "very intense and detailed look at advising" in order to determine what works most effectively for liberal arts students.
"The goal would be for advising conversations to be less about nuts and bolts issues and more about the broad context of a liberal arts education and where that might lead," he wrote afterward in an e-mail.
Financial Software Upgrade Project Manager Abbie Brown also attended the meeting to discuss updates to Bowdoin's student information system. Brown sought student input regarding which options for changing Web interfaces, such as Bearings, would be most appealing to students.
"The purpose of the new student information system is to enhance academic planning, from course management, to online registration, and faculty, advisor and student tools," Brown stated in an e-mail.
Brown said she hopes to select a new system product by the end of February.
"Once a product is selected, we will plan out what components we may have to build, and then determine when we can put this new system in place," she said.
"The energy and creative suggestions being offered by the BSG were very helpful and insightful," she added. "Every one we talk to on the campus is excited about a new student information system. I do not hear any reservations?just ideas!"