I can't shake this vision of a prospective student poring over admissions pamphlets, coming across the possibility to create his or her own Independent General Education Requirements. Instantly, excitement grows as this overeager and inherently confused prospective student identifies the well-advertised new IGER program as something all too similar to Brown University's New Curriculum.I'm not suggesting that Brown students receive an education inferior to ours. Although the New Curriculum's lack of general education requirements offers its students infinite freedom, it's not the model that Brandeis should follow. Brandeis' education guarantees well-rounded graduates. Even if IGER's foundations are rooted in the University's mission to teach core intellectual skills, global citizenship and a broad array of knowledge, a community united in pursuit of the same educational foundation is a risky thing to sacrifice. IGER, proposed by the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering Committee in a separate report, has tremendous potential to be misused and exaggerated as a recruiting tool.

We are already designing our own respective curricula. Brandeis' existing distributional requirements are remarkably loose. The University Writing Seminar offers first-years a tremendous amount of options. Writing intensive and oral communication courses abound in all departments, and students will inevitably complete the required courses. And there are so many courses available that fulfill the requirements for non-Western and comparative studies, quantitative reasoning, science, social science, humanities and creative arts that students often don't even know which class to choose.

The current system is structured in such a way that grants students the freedom to simultaneously determine what they want to study while ensuring them a well-rounded education. The University should be proud that it produces graduates who have studied in many areas of academia. Graduate schools recognize Brandeis as a school that challenges its students and encourages them to think in many different ways. Although the idea for IGER is rooted in these same standards, its implementation will not prove to be consistent with Brandeis' educational philosophy.

It seems to me that all IGER will accomplish is the establishment of a separate community with separate resources and the risk of the complete liberal arts education that is already available at Brandeis. We don't need the suggested substantial and costly increase in Academic Services staff to figure out a way to cover all the bases. This could turn out to be a fairly pricey way to fool around with our liberal arts education.

Furthermore, a look at the CARS report's suggestions for different ways to meet various requirements doesn't reveal anything spectacular. For example, a student can complete the intellectual foundations criterion with previous work, such as a high SAT score or writing portfolio. For the global citizenship criterion, a student can likewise exempt himself by proving to be fluent in a foreign language or planning to study abroad. There is no reason these exemptions can't simply go into effect now if the University wishes to see them count toward these requirements. Students can already obtain credit for high scores on AP exams, and many foreign language departments offer students the opportunity to place out of lower level courses. Creating an isolated community for IGER students to ultimately accomplish the same goal as mainstream students is unnecessary and detrimental to the University community as a whole.

Also, CARS suggests majoring in one field and pursuing a minor or major in a different field to fulfill the?University's breadth criterion. This seems disturbingly mindless of the basic balance that a true liberal arts student appreciates in his or her education. Unrelated majors and minors may guarantee a diversified education but surely not a well-rounded one.

It seems like CARS wants our University to be able to shout at prospective students, "Come to Brandeis and learn whatever you want!" This might be a nice route for Brown to take, but Brandeis is different. We don't have a New Curriculum; we want students to leave Brandeis having taken a diverse course load. This is what makes a Brandeis student unique.

It's no secret that the word "requirement" tends to make students apprehensive. At first glance, IGER appears to provide a means to ease the worry. But it is not consistent with the spirit of our university. Brandeis students enjoy paging through the University Bulletin and shopping numerous classes at the beginning of every semester so that they can shape their education both creatively and appropriately. Creating a way to escape distributional requirements is not the way to go.