Back in December 2023, Penn released a pamphlet titled “In Principle and Practice: Penn’s Focus on the Future.” In a letter to the Penn community, former Penn President Liz Magill described the document as “a strategic framework to guide our path forward.” It is important to note that this initiative, spearheaded by Magill, was released just days prior to her resignation. Nevertheless, when you visit the “About” section on the Penn website, it is one of the first things you find. The plan itself included four principles, one of which was “The Interwoven University.” On the surface, it would be quite hard to know what that exactly means, but it is included with this tenet: “Leadership in interdisciplinary excellence distinguishes Penn.”
Expanding upon that notion, the framework says that the University should “[a]ccelerate interdisciplinary pursuits” by “seek[ing] exponential growth in Penn’s interdisciplinary faculty support; even more inter-School teaching, projects, and programs; and rich opportunities for students and staff to pursue novel collaborations across a wide range of domains.” Further examination of this statement, however, reveals a rather glaring flaw: The ability to take classes in a school in which you are not enrolled is minuscule at best.
Let me give a simple example: You are a student in the College of Arts and Sciences with your mind set on being an English major. You love analyzing complex literature and working on creative writing in your free time. You are perusing courses on Path@Penn, as all students do when deciding their classes, and come across a course on global real estate. It catches your eye and seems interesting to you: Why not give it a shot; it fits in your schedule, Penn Course Review gives the instructor an incredible rating, and on the syllabus, you read “there is no pre-requisite for the course.” Perfect! Then you scroll down, only to discover that “Enrollment is limited to students in the Wharton Undergraduate Division.”
For most students, that is where their interest in global real estate — or whatever the specific field may be — comes to a halt because the system told them they had to. That is not, by any means, a liberal education.
Just to clear some things up, as maybe the University registrar is reading, I am not saying that anyone should be able to take any class without their appropriate prerequisites. What I am saying, however, is that taking a lower-level or intro class on a topic that a particular student finds appealing to them should be seen as an open door to an opportunity, instead of a brick wall of audit permissions and out-of-school waitlist forms.
The most notable approach that the University has historically taken to promoting an interdisciplinary education is the development of a variety of coordinated dual-degree programs that allow students to receive more than one degree after four years of an undergraduate-only experience. There are currently five coordinated dual-degree programs that span beyond one school. These programs are incredibly prestigious and selective — the cohort size ranging from 50 to 55 in the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology to only 24 enrolled in the Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management. All in, approximately 156 students matriculate into these inter-school programs each year, making up a mere 5.9% of Penn’s undergraduate student body.
As renowned as these initiatives may be, the idea of an interdisciplinary education should not be limited to those specifically selected into five cohorts, but rather all students. In fact, not only should it be permitted — it needs to be highly encouraged. I could give a whole list of action items for the University on how to best go about this ideological inconsistency, but that is a topic for another day.
Ideological execution, however, is essential to the growth of any institution, let alone one of Penn’s stature. Regardless of the University’s success (or failure) in that department, the bottom line is this: When a talented, bright, and unique young person enrolls into Penn, they may be choosing Penn because of a specific world-class undergraduate school, but they also need to be able to take advantage of all the University has to offer.
BRIAN BARTH is a College first year from New York, N.Y. His email is bbarth@sas.upenn.edu.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
Donate