By ELLA SILVA
Several weeks ago, The Round Table sat down with Vice President of Beloit College Tim Leslie to discuss how the college is changing and growing to fit with changes in the field of higher education more generally.
At this time, the political and social environment in this country at large is posing challenges for higher education, especially liberal arts schools like Beloit. Leslie touched on this, discussing how Beloit is facing a number of challenges right now, such as dealing with the demographic cliff, catering to students, both current and potential, questioning the value of higher education, and adapting to fluctuating policy changes on a national level.
There is also an increasing societal pressure that the rising cost of higher education can only be justified if it gets you a job right out of college, which historically was not the highest priority of a standard liberal arts education. Leslie says, “There’s a lot of societal pressure to have a job right out of college.”
Moving into the future, Beloit College is working to address these issues, while still trying to stay true to a liberal arts education and what was laid out in the original Beloit Plan. According to an article written on the Beloit College website by Meg Kulikowski’21, “the Beloit Plan put Beloit College on the map when it launched in 1964. Although it ended after only 14 years, the Plan’s legacy is still alive through the remarkable alumni who took part in it, and in the college itself, which continues to be an innovator in higher education.”
The article details the logistics of the Beloit Plan:
“Instead of following a traditional four-year trajectory from first-year to senior, students enrolled in three 15-week periods and progressed through designations called Underclass, Middleclass, and Upperclass. Each one required a certain number of academic terms, combined with off-campus experiences, such as jobs, study abroad, time off, or a Field Term. The idea was to help students establish intellectual competence, then get them out into the world to test and expand what they were learning. The course of study was individualized, with the expectation that students would tailor courses and experiences to their interests.”
Looking at Beloit College today while remembering its historical ideals, adapting to the current climate involves looking at things a little differently. In our conversation, Leslie cited the methods of Brandeis University and how they are adapting liberal arts education to our modern reality.
The Brandeis University website says that they are “combining the strengths of a liberal arts education with professional preparation,” and that is what Beloit is looking to do as well, according to Leslie.
He spoke with us about how the school wants to continue to preserve all of the aspects of a liberal arts education, while also increasing the programs that allow students to graduate having already started down the path to a specific career. This is especially evident in the recently developed nursing program. Leslie says, “We are creating liberal arts-trained nurses,” highlighting how Beloit still values and wants to promote a liberal arts education, even outside of historical liberal arts fields.
Overall, the world is changing, and Beloit College must adapt to move effectively within the current environment. As Leslie states, Beloit has to be able to “innovate and change in a rapidly changing world.”
Featured image: Beloit College
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