Fordham University’s Lincoln Center College Council and Rose Hill College Council voted to implement a revised core curriculum on March 19. Next, the revised curriculum will be voted on by the Arts and Sciences Council, then by the Fordham faculty and finally by the Board of Trustees on April 23. If the proposed curriculum is passed by all of these groups, it will move into the implementation phase and be fully administered for the class of 2031, according to Professor of English and American studies Glenn Hendler.

The revision of Fordham’s core curriculum has been a five-year process involving several faculty committees, the most recent being the Core Reconciliation Committee. A different draft of the core curriculum was voted down by the college councils last spring. Now, the newly revised curriculum is progressing into its final stages of approval.

Hendler said that he is excited the college councils voted to pass the proposal, but added that the vote was closer than he would have liked.

“I am very happy that it passed,” Hendler said. “I mean, it was a mixed feel … I wanted it to be more enthusiastic. I would like people to be excited by the core.”

The main change to the core curriculum is a reduction from 17 to 12 classes. Other changes include a requirement of one philosophy and one theology class — as opposed to the previous requirement of two classes for each discipline — both of which will now be taken exclusively in the first year. First-year students will also complete a New York City Experience requirement, which can be fulfilled through a class or a co-curricular experience through Student Affairs, Campus Ministry, the Center for Community-Engaged Learning or a student organization. Additionally, students will take three Eloquentia Perfecta courses, one less than the current core curriculum which requires four.

Hendler explained that the Reconciliation Committee spent the whole fall semester meeting with faculty to collect feedback on the previously drafted core revision. After creating a new draft, they shared a proposal with faculty and students in January and received lots of feedback, which they incorporated into a finalized proposal this month. Hendler said they were very open to input throughout the revision process and tried to address all suggestions in the proposal.

“We solicited input, input came to us and we responded,” Hendler said. “Every single comment that came to us, from faculty and from students, got a response in writing in the core document itself.”

Hendler said the two main goals with the new core were to make it smaller and more interdisciplinary.

“This new core is exciting and interdisciplinary,” Hendler said. “I think interdisciplinarity is there not just in the, what we are calling the integrative courses, the Fordham Core seminar … But even in the inquiry courses, there is an imperative to look outside your discipline.”

Fordham’s United Student Government (USG) Vice President of Fordham College Rose Hill Mary Hawthorn, FCRH ’26, is part of the Fordham College Rose Hill Dean’s Council and participated in the college council vote. While she was unable to attend the voting session in-person, she sent a delegate, USG Senator Anna Wiss, FCRH ’26, on her behalf. Hawthorn said she voted to implement the new curriculum because she feels it will further Fordham’s community mission.

“Some of the modifications to the core are really emphasizing the notion ‘Fordham is my school, New York is my campus’ to really encourage students to bring all that they’ve learned within the classroom to the greater New York area, which I think is a great idea and one of the reasons I wanted to vote yes,” Hawthorn said in response.

Hawthorn also said that by decreasing the core curriculum requirements, students will have more opportunities to explore new disciplines.
“It’s allowing students to fulfill certain requirements and explore greater areas of academia through an even wider net of courses,” Hawthorn said. “I think something that’s really great about this core revision is the fact that students will have even more opportunities to take an abundance of classes and really nurture that sense of cura personalis.”

The Fordham Arts and Sciences Council will vote on the revised core on March 25. If it passes, it will go to a faculty vote via the Qualtrics platform, according to Dean of Arts and Sciences Jessica Lang, Ph.D.

“If the vote is favorable at the Arts and Sciences Council tomorrow, then it moves to a faculty vote,” Lang said in an email to The Ram. “The Arts and Sciences faculty (tenure and tenure track) will have a window of time to vote once we return from Easter Break. I will oversee the email communication sent to faculty that includes the link to the Qualtrics ballot.”

Hendler said one big change they have made to the core curriculum during the revision process is implementing the ability to revise the document in the future through a faculty-wide vote, without having to go through the entire revision process.

“One of the peculiar things about this is, we want to make our job irrelevant,” Hendler said. “We want to make it so that we never have to do this again.”