More Change from Faculty

Faculty Function

Faculty Meeting Minutes

February 9, 1981

As with the founding of the Women’s Studies department, once the Third World Requirement passed into faculty vetting, all student input was eliminated excepting those points during which faculty spoke for their students. The establishment of the Third World Requirement was highly debated at the faculty level. As one of the first colleges to require it, Mount Holyoke College’s decision to adopt the Third World Requirement would set an example for larger academia, but whether that example would be successful was a matter of contention. Issues raised at the February 9, 1981 faculty meeting included student freedom, overcrowding of courses, and teaching limitations both in terms of time and knowledge.

Through a faculty vote, the Third World Requirement was passed for the 1981-1982 school year. Since that date it has remained a constant in the Mount Holyoke curriculum with the exception of its retitling to the Multicultural Requirement. The curriculum change proved to be an inspiration to many other colleges and universities and, by 1991, 48% of United States colleges had a multicultural general education requirement.