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The Spectator
Students pursue passions to create their own class
Rebecca Pomerantz '12Features Writer
November 06, 2009
One of the greatest qualities of Hamilton College is the freedom that it allows its students to help develop their own education. Whether it is merely through the lack of core curriculum, the opportunity to create your own major or simply to give feedback about a course or a professor, the options to have a voice in your education are there. This year, two students took this opportunity even further by creating their own course.
Offered this coming spring 2010, "The Borderlands" was created by Kate Harloe '12 and Corinne Bancroft '10. Offered in the College Courses department, "The Borderlands," is a seminar on the US/Mexican Border which will discuss the various humanitarian problems surrounding the crossing of the border.
Harloe and Bancroft were inspired by their past spring break trip to Arizona to address immigration issues and sociological issues along the border on top of the main focus of the serious struggles of actually crossing the border. In Arizona, Harloe and Bancroft worked with the humanitarian aid organization "No More Deaths," which focuses on spreading awareness about the deaths along the border and helps to provide water and necessities for those who are leaving their homes and making the arduous journey across the desert. According to Bancroft, over 5,000 bodies have been found in the desert since 1994. This number does not include the people whose bodies
have disintegrated in the harsh conditions of the desert and will never be found. "This is how desperate people are to cross," Harloe says, "people need to know the issues, why people are crossing the border in the first place and what the conditions surrounding it are." Their main goal is to educate students from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Bancroft notes, "Kate and I decided that there were still complicated issues left unaddressed and we thought that the best way to do that [at Hamilton] would be in the context of a classroom with the most educated people we could find on the issues we want to know more about."
Not only did Harloe and Bancroft face the challenges of coming up with the topics that were most important to teach, but they also had to get their class approved and work on structuring the unique learning situation. Bancroft says, "It's been challenging but also really rewarding to approach professors and tell them that they have a specific knowledge that you want to get from them." With seven professors involved in and enthusiastic about the class, subjects encompassed include Comparative Literature, Women's Studies, Economics, Government, History, Sociology and Africana Studies. The class will involve working with "No More Deaths" at the border in Arizona over spring break.
Harloe and Bancroft are the first students at Hamilton to create their own class that is offered in the course catalogue. With no system in place for students to create their own course, they had to get approval from the Academic Council and Committee on Academic Policy, which professor John Vaughan helped them achieve. After several revisions of their proposal, the class was approved. Harloe says, "a lot of people told us that it wouldn't be possible to create this class for the Spring '10 semester and that we should make it an independent study. We wanted everyone on campus to have the opportunity to take it." So they made it happen.
Bancroft and Harloe's main goals in setting their new class apart include the experiental factor (the trip to Arizona), and applying what they will have learned from a variety of sources including professors, books, films and guest lecturers to help shape their experiences when at the border.
Even for students who may not have the opportunity to take their class, they believe it is important to get the message out about crossing the border. To make the topic more accessible to the rest of the campus, Harloe explains that they will be running a film series this fall starting Sunday, Nov. 8.
Bancroft says, "Personally, I think immigration and border justice issues are the civil rights conflict of our times. Unfortunately this crisis is only increasing over time and in order to be educated adults in this globalized world we have to deal with these issues, so we might as well do so in the most educated way we can." Harloe says, in conclusion, "The great thing about Hamilton is that you can do what you want to do academically if you take the initiative. We're really excited now to see the class unfold and to learn more ourselves."