On February 21, Student Senate hosted a Q&A Panel on Covenant’s Core Curriculum. The event was an opportunity for faculty members to answer student questions and give an update on the Core Oversight Committee’s review of the curriculum. Vice President of Academic Affairs, Colin Messer, and faculty members Dr. Heather Hess, Dr. Bill Davis, Dr. Robert Erle Barham and Dr. Kelly Kapic attended.
Student Body President Jon Schimpf asked the panelists nine questions students submitted about the Core. Topics ranged from the content of Cultural Heritage of the West and Doctrine, distribution requirements, the size of the curriculum, the Intercultural Experience, etc. All the professors on the panel teach Core classes at the college and explained what they hope students receive from taking these classes.
Davis said that many factors are taken into consideration when reviewing and revising the Core. He and his colleagues frequently ask: “What do we want to be true of every student that graduates?” Davis hopes that the Core allows Covenant students to develop the right kind of affections and a deep love for people. Kapic also talked about how the college sees the Core as fostering students’ humanity. “Covenant College is trying to make you more human as you live in a holistic way so that you might love God, love your neighbor and love His earth in faithful ways,” said Kapic.
Faculty want students to view the Core as more than just a set of classes and credit requirements. Instead, the panelists pointed to their desire for students to see the Core as an opportunity to connect with others. A main theme throughout their answers was their belief that these classes create a sense of community, common narrative and shared vocabulary across campus, especially among students who do not share the same major and would not have any classes together otherwise.
This sense of community is something Hess received from the Core during her time as a student at Covenant. When she was a student, the Core was similar to how it is now. Hess spoke of how she values what her Core classes taught her and believes she has a greater intellectual agility and understanding of people because of them.
“You [as a student taking Core classes] will have experienced personal formation. You will be a critical thinker, a charitable thinker. You will be grounded, but you will also have this gift of this Christian community and the resources that this provides for you really can’t be underestimated. What we’re doing here is, in a way, a lot more important than making sure you have a marketable degree,” Hess said.
Other panelists echoed Hess’s comments. Barham believes that the Core allows for more diversity and teaches students to be better listeners and conversationalists, as well as teaching them how to communicate with humility. Davis says that a class like Cultural Heritage of the West helps students answer the Bible’s call to love by encountering ideas and people that are different from them. Kapic talked about how these classes help us to be better attuned to the world as we witness the unfolding of God’s creation.
However, the panelists acknowledged that there is room for improvement in the Core. “It does need to be revisited,” Barham said. One thing the Core Oversight Committee is considering is modifying Cultural Heritage of the West (CHOW) to go deeper into the current texts and include Eastern works to increase a sense of cultural awareness. Faculty were excited about this idea. “I would like to see us do CHOW in a more comparative, global conscious way that does integrate some Eastern thought,” said Hess.
There was also talk about greater inclusion of STEM, offering more opportunities for students looking to fulfill their Intercultural Experience, and possibly reducing the size of the Core to allow more flexibility in students’ schedules. Messer said he would like to see more room for students to take electives.
While the college is working on revisiting the Core, the panelists expressed their ultimate desire for the curriculum to be a blessing and a gift to students. Covenant’s desire is for all its graduates to be grounded Christians, intentional thinkers and gracious lovers. According to Hess, the hope for the Core is this: “We understand that people are image bearers, we understand that we are a part of this cosmic unfolding of God’s redemptive work in the world, and that does equip us to love other people in a way that no others are equipped to love them.”