Photo Courtesy of Kevin Lieue ’26
This past week, The College Voice sent a survey out to our mailing list of students asking a simple question: what classes or majors does Connecticut College not offer that it should? The nature of a small liberal arts college is that, while you have much more freedom to work outside your selected major, there may not be the breadth of diverse fields of study that would be available at a larger institution. After a conversation with Interim President Wong, we felt inspired to take a poll of students. Here are some of the responses that we got:
Course or major that should be offered: Disability Studies.
Why it should be offered: “[It should be offered] because there are enough classes between GSIS, Sociology, and American Sign Language for a Minor, and disability is important.”
Course or major that should be offered: Linguistics (offered as a minor but not a major).
Why it should be offered: “Most Linguistics minors that I know, including myself, would pursue it as a major if there was the option. Conn has the faculty and classes to offer it as a major, so they might as well expand the department to allow for majors and minors. This expansion would demand nothing on the college’s part and satisfy student interest, it’s a win-win scenario.”
Course or major that should be offered: Communications and/or marketing major.
Why it should be offered: “We don’t have any majors focusing on business that focus on dealing with the audience. It’s difficult finding a combination of majors to cover the field, unless you do a self-designed major. Since there’s so many finance/econ bros, I’m sure they’ll be interested in the major too, alongside media enjoyers like me that want to actually make a living.”
Course or major that should be offered: Metalworking.
Why it should be offered: “It would be another opportunity for a fun MOIA class.”
Course or major that should be offered: Sports Management and Journalism.
Why it should be offered: “I believe that these are two glaring misses at Conn. There are so many students who want to make a career out of journalism, and many elements of journalism are important in so many different careers. Sports management would also cater to any students who want to make a career in the sports industry — of which there are many at Conn.”
Course or major that should be offered: More marine science courses and taking UConn Avery Point Classes (Scientific Diving, etc).
Why it should be offered: “Being so close to CGA, UConn Avery Point Campus, and the Mystic aquarium, while being on the waterfront, Conn has a great location for more marine science based courses. And scientific diving is required for many marine science jobs, so being able to go to Avery Point would enhance the resumes of Conn students.”
Course or major that should be offered: Not a major, but a teacher certification for Connecticut.
Why it should be offered: “Graduating from here, people can’t go teach in public schools. It would be helpful to graduate with a CT certificate so people can go straight to a career to teach rather than needing to go to grad school.”
Course or major that should be offered: We need to teach more languages like Portuguese, Turkish, Polish, Hindi, Urdu, Bangla, Malay, Bahasa, and Korean.
Why it should be offered: “These are all languages of emergent economic and/or military powers that will be in high demand in a globalized economy. We don’t necessarily need to teach all of these languages, but having a future generation of professionals well-versed in at least some of them is vital in the 21st century.”
Course or major that should be offered: Classes in nonfiction writing, like rhetoric and composition, essay/speech writing, and narrative nonfiction.
Why it should be offered: “Within the English major there are concentrations and plenty of classes under the umbrella of creative writing, but my area of interest is nonfiction writing. I know we don’t have a Journalism major, but I would appreciate more courses that focus on communication.”
Course or major that should be offered: PT classes.
Why it should be offered: “I think it’s interesting.”
