The principles of freedom of speech have a special place in the world of the university. How institutions enact them has itself been a subject of debate.
Ten colleges will launch integrated majors, which combine two existing degrees into one, to see if they lead to increased diversity and skill sets suited to the 21st century. As the director of first-year writing at a midsize public university, Melanie Gagich doesn’t know a ton about computer science. But when her institution invited faculty to propose new programs combining two existing majors, she and another writing instructor felt that English and computer science would be a perfect fit. “A lot of students worry, I think, about being an English major, because they’re always like, ‘Well, can I get a job with that?’ That was sort of our inspiration,” she said.
