Drake women's basketball beat Hawkeyes 86-73. The new Drake curriculum, passed Oct. 5 by a faculty vote of 58.5 percent in favor and 41.5 percent against, is drawing concern from some Drake faculty members. Joselyn Zivin, assistant professor of history, said she wonders if the new Drake curriculum is not a step backwards for the University, mainly because of the absence of student input and the fact that few students knew anything about the proposed curriculum before it was passed. As reported earlier in the semester by The Times-Delphic, the new curriculum, which was passed with 64.6 percent faculty vote participation, will be implemented over the next four years. All first-year students for the fall 1998 semester must meet the graduation requirements of the new curriculum.
Current sophomores have the option of following either the new or the old curriculum.
Those who oppose Zivin said they see other problems facing the success of the curriculum. Some faculty said they believe that the quality of the Drake education will suffer as a result of the changed curriculum. With class sizes for the seminars capped at 18, some faculty said they believe there is a need for both a number of seminars and a lot of professors. Currently, professors usually teach three classes a semester. If a large majority of the faculty is required to teach a first-year seminar, it is then possible that the number of classes offered each semester will diminish unless more professors are hired, Zivin said.