The Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering Committee proposal has caused quite the buzz on campus. Although the Brandeis community has largely been debating the implications of the interdisciplinary nature of the proposed reforms, I think that the CARS proposal to phase out the BA/MA program is most upsetting. The authors of the CARS report are straightforward about this proposal. Under "miscellaneous recommendations," the CARS report asserts that four year BA/MA programs are "generally not appropriate, with the work done to earn the MA closer to an undergraduate honors degree than a true graduate degree." The CARS reports adds, "the existence of these options precludes the development of 5-year BA/MA programs, which might offer students an attractive option of achieving the MA degree, while also providing revenue possibilities for the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences." The History, Anthropology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biology, and Physics departments carry four-year BA/MA or BS/MS programs.

The four year BA/MA program is not "closer to an undergraduate honors degree program." I can attest to this as a younger graduate student myself. I speak regularly with the BA/MA students who are placed in the same seminars as graduate students. They may elect to do readings, but in many cases, they are right next to graduate students learning about theory, historiography, higher levels of analysis and graduate school level project design, among others. The BA/MA students also feel overwhelming pressure to meet graduate-level reading requirements and write graduate-level papers. If a poor paper is turned in, most professors do not take it easy on the student because he is an undergraduate student in the BA/MA program. The Graduate School prides itself on fairness and is just as constructively critical of BA/MA students as it is of regular graduate students.

If my word is not enough, then look at the recent panel on Lincoln's 200th birthday held in the Robert D. Farber Archives Feb. 10. Planners of the event thought enough of the BA/MA program to invite a BA/MA student focused on the Civil War to speak on the panel. The BA/MA program is what each participating department makes of it. If a department's respective BA/MA seems weak, then CARS should encourage participating departments to simply improve their program. Branding the BA/MA as a glorified undergraduate honors program debases the commitment to integrity and fairness many departments practice in their handling of these younger scholars.

Overall, the BA/MA program benefits undergraduate students in three ways. First, it awards the student with a graduate degree on completion of their studies. If the student decides to teach at the high school level, the student must only earn a Masters in education in order to reach a higher income bracket. Most BA/MA students are the craeme de la craeme of their fellow undergraduate majors. Having a master's makes the transition to graduate school at Brandeis or elsewhere easier. The BA/MA experience exposes students to what it takes to succeed in graduate school.

Secondly, the students in the BA/MA program are shown theories and ideas that are usually not accessible to the average undergraduate honors student. They learn in their year as a BA/MA student what a first year graduate student would.

Lastly, BA/MA students' educations are far stronger than those found in an honors experience because they are not only exposed to big ideas but also expected to engage in discussion of these ideas with more sophisticated minds than those found in your average undergraduate discussion section.

Eliminating the BA/MA program will also hurt departments' graduate sections. Since the CARS proposal calls for fewer Ph.D. students overall, the lack of BA/MA students will be a detriment to classroom discussion. Because seminars are cooperative learning situations, having no highly intelligent, vetted BA/MA students will hurt the Ph.D. experience and weaken the already-shrinking graduate program.

Although CARS disparages the BA/MA program equivalent to an average honors path, it is a worthy program. It may not earn the University extra money, but it demonstrates the University's commitment to opportunity and excellence. Students who show high levels of skill get a stronger degree. Their hard work is rewarded by the invitation to the program and the distinction of completing it. If CARS wants to meet the guiding principles laid out by President Jehuda Reinharz in his Jan. 22 statement calling Brandeis a "superb undergraduate school" that has the ability to "pursue excellence by being a research university," then Brandeis must keep the BA/MA program.