Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

SFS Subtracts Math

By 1972, senior Georgetown administrators had decided that curricular requirements in the Walsh School of Foreign Service were in sore need of reform.

The SFS had experienced a drop-off in admissions which university officials attributed to “the overburdening of required courses on the students” and a “national drop of interest in international relations” according to the Jan. 28, 1972 edition of THE HOYA.

On Jan. 26 a crowd of students and faculty filled Georgetown’s Hall of Nations in Walsh to hear SFS Dean Peter Krogh defend the plans of a special curriculum committee to radically modify the SFS course of study.

The committee’s proposed changes included eliminating required U.S. Constitution and government courses and doing away with all math requirements.

Not all attendees appreciated the proposed changes.

Academic representative Bruce Magid (SFS ’73) complained that students had not been consulted enough during the process and said that “elected students don’t have the power they’re purported to have,” according to THE HOYA.

But Krogh, in response to complaints that students had not had a voice on the committee determining the new curriculum, pointed out that the “committee of 19 includes 10 faculty and seven appointed students who had all been elected representatives from the school .”

Despite criticism, Krogh would help push through most of the proposed changes in the next few years. By the end of the 1970s he had played a large part in making the SFS more competitive than ever.

Krogh also helped set trends by establishing multiple specialized programs including Asian and African studies at Georgetown.

He retired in 1995 and today serves as Dean Emeritus of the School of Foreign Service.

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