The beginning of the new year has brought many new changes to the College including the introduction of a new College course, Introduction to Gay and Lesbian Studies.
Religion Professor Susan Ackerman and History Professor Annelise Orleck team teach the interdisciplinary course, which Ackerman said covers a wide range of material related to homosexuals throughout history.
Ackerman said the course combines history and literature to present a picture of "not just what's happening historically, but also what they were creating."
The course will move along a historical trajectory, and students have already studied topics relating to ancient Greece and the Bible, Ackerman said. However, the fast-paced course will spend eight of its 10 weeks focusing on gay life in 20th-century America, she added.
Ackerman said about 30 students are enrolled in the class, a size she was pleased with for a first-time course. She said she was "very impressed" with the class but "they don't laugh at my jokes enough."
"I really didn't know what to expect from an interdisciplinary course," Melanie Popper '99, a student in the class, said. "But it's fascinating so far."
"I thought I'd go to class and talk about sex, but it's not about sex," Popper said. She said she found the reading material broad and interesting and that the "professors seem to be brilliant."
Popper said the class seems to be a balanced mix of homosexual and heterosexual students.
Herlena Harris '96, co-Chair of the Dartmouth Rainbow Alliance and a student in the course, said she thought it was "a very good class ... something that should be taught."
Mario Martinus '98, the other chair of the alliance, said the College's offering the course "can only do good," but he voiced some fears about it as well.
"The people who need to be educated on gay and lesbian issues won't take" the course, Martinus said. He said he hoped people would not stigmatize anyone for enrolling in this course.
Martinus said classes already part of the current curriculum should incorporate some discussions on homosexuality because gays and
lesbians have contributed to all aspects of academia.
Mike Borden '99, a student in the class, said the course involves a lot of reading and would take up a lot of his time, "but it will be worth it ... so far, I haven't been bored."
Besides regular class periods, the course also includes a weekly discussion group and a showing of a film, Borden said.
Ackerman said the course was first created in 1991, but has not been taught until now. She said the College had some difficulties funding the new course because of its interdisciplinary nature, not because of its content.
The difficulty arises because professors are paid through their individual departments, and departments are reluctant to pay professors for teaching classes outside of their departments.
Ackerman said the new curriculum, which requires students to take interdisciplinary course, makes it easier for the College to pay for the courses because it provides for a way for the College to reimburse departments.
