One of the most popular majors on campus, biology serves as a gateway to the medical profession, as well as a department for crucial research in areas such as pharmaceutics and genetics. Although we applaud the attention paid to the major in the form of a recent revamping, we are, nonetheless, disappointed with the low level of transparency on the part of the Biology Curriculum Transition Committee throughout the process.

The University’s decision to scrap the two traditional introductory courses in favor of three specialized electives, two of which must be taken by any biology major, is a wise one. It will allow students to more deeply explore important core topics and is a more appealing alternative to the current introductory courses that emphasize a general survey, rather than establish a specialized knowledge base. By offering elective courses in three core topics — Ecology and the Environment, Physiology, Cell and Developmental Biology — the biology department will enable entering students to develop a strong foundation for more advanced study. This will greatly benefit newly entering biology majors, the majority of whom have already learned the concepts taught in BIOG 1101 in AP or IB courses.

We also believe that the structure of the new system will remove the sense of anonymity commonly felt by students throughout the freshman biology experience. Smaller courses and more focused topics will allow students deeper and more frequent interactions with peers and instructors and could potentially reduce the tension often felt between peers in the major.

But while we support the restructuring that the University has done to the major, we take fault with the unfortunate reality that the instructors of the introductory courses — and those who are therefore most associated with the classes that will be affected — did not play a major role in the decision-making process.

Given that next semester will serve as a trial period with only two trial classes being offered, we hope that the Biology Curriculum Transition Committee will seek more input from introductory biology professors as well as students. Furthermore, with a course that affects not only the biology major, but also other life sciences majors in the College of Human Ecology and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences that require introductory biology, we encourage the committee to work closely with those outside of the Department of Biological Sciences.

In the future, we hope that decisions such as these are made with considerable and thoughtful input from more students and faculty.