I. Students must satisfactorily complete 32 units of academic credit. To achieve the breadth central to liberal learning, students must take and pass at least one full unit in each division, excluding adjuncts and extended format courses. International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement credits will not substitute for this requirement.

II. Students must satisfactorily complete a major course of study. No major may require more than 14 units in any one department and no more than 16 over all (including prerequisites). (In departmentally-based majors, the two units beyond the 14 unit limit can be courses outside the department or adjunct courses.)

III. Completion of the Critical Perspectives requirement: Diverse Cultures and Critiques (3 units); The West in Time (1 two block course, 2 units); Scientific Investigation of the Natural World (2 units, including at least one lab or field course).

IV. Basic competency in a foreign language (2 blocks elementary or the equivalent)

Colorado College believes that learning a language gives students an important intellectual experience of cultural difference. Students may learn about other cultures in a variety of ways, but we believe interpreting and expressing individual experience and cultural values in a foreign language is necessary for enhanced international and multicultural awareness. This requirement reflects the conviction that a liberal education is incomplete when it includes no foreign language study. Learning a language other than one’s native tongue is not equivalent simply to acquiring a "tool" for practical use. The language requirement may be fulfilled in any one of the following seven ways:

• The study of the same non-English language for four full years in high school.


• An acceptable score (at least 5) on the International Baccalaureate language examination or an acceptable score of the Advanced Placement language examination (3, 4, or 5 depending on departmental policies in different languages at CC).


• The placement examination administered by the language departments, with a score allowing placement at, or above, the 201 level, or a special proficiency examination administered by a certified proficiency examiner.


• A beginning course in any of the languages offered at Colorado College, ordinarily a course numbered 101 (2 units), unless the student presents acceptable evidence of a learning disability making language study impossible.


• An acceptable language program at any accredited college or university, in any non-English language, equivalent to the 101 level at Colorado College, if approved by the Registrar’s Office.


• A Colorado-College approved semester or year-long foreign study program requiring substantial use of a non-English language either in course work or in the living situation. Programs abroad will be assessed and certified by the Registrar’s Office independently to determine which programs fulfill the requirement.

Students who are native speakers of a language other than English are considered to have satisfied the requirement.

V: A two-block First Year Experience course required of all first year students addressing issues likely to stimulate debate and including critical reading, effective writing, and a research project.

Critical Perspectives Categories: goals and standards

[1]Critical Perspectives: Diverse Cultures and Critiques helps students understand the unique perspective of their own culture by confronting other perspectives, both those within the culture and those outside it. In contrast to the West in Time requirement, this requirement urges students to consider the different arrangements of human society across space. These courses will examine one or more of the following:

• some facet of a non-western society;
• some aspects of marginalized communities within the western tradition;
• critiques of the western tradition.

Students may take three unrelated courses or three courses that address a common theme, group, or area of the world.

[2] Critical Perspectives: The West in Time asks students to position their knowledge of the broader world not just through multifaceted inquiry into "the here and now" but through critical inquiry across time as well. As an all-college requirement, The West in Time acknowledges the crucial importance of understanding the past as the context out of which contemporary modes of inquiry and contemporary fields of study have grown.

The West in Time is a two-block, two-unit course in which students will explore compelling aspects of the Western experience over a significant period of time (antiquity to the modern period or the Middle Ages to the modern period). This Critical Perspectives requirement acknowledges the modern Western propensity to create cultural and historical narratives which assume development and progress over time. It also insists on the importance of understanding the contemporary Western 'self' in the context of previous iterations of the 'self'. Courses in this area of inquiry will accomplish some combination of the following:

• engage students in an exploration of the past through examination of ideas, events, cultural institutions and practices;
• enable students to expand their understanding of narratives of the development of the Western tradition over time and provide them with the analytical tools to critique those narratives;
• engage students in critical analysis of the connections between the past and the present;
• encourage students to consider how our understanding of contemporary events is informed by our grasp of the historical past.

[3]Critical Perspectives: Scientific Investigation of the Natural World enhances students’ understanding of the natural world and of the methods central to modern science. It gives students opportunities to explore the broader earth system and universe, a sphere of inquiry which includes but is not limited to humans. In a world influenced by science and technology, informed citizens need to be familiar with the distinctive ways of thinking characteristic of the sciences and need to cultivate skill in quantitative reasoning. This requirement complements the West in Time and the Diverse Cultures and Critiques requirements by addressing a distinct approach to the understanding of the world which originated in the west but currently exercises global influence. These courses will meet the description of the preceding paragraph and will accomplish some combination of the following:

• explicitly address the nature of the scientific method;
• give students direct experience in the gathering and analysis of scientific data;
• emphasize the use of quantitative reasoning;
• introduce the foundations and principles of scientific knowledge;
• enhance scientific literacy.

At least one of the two units must involve significant laboratory or field experience.

A Special Notice to Students Interested in Majoring in the Natural Sciences
(Biology, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology, Neuroscience, Environmental Sciences)

If you plan to major in one of the natural sciences programs, you should carefully consider taking a West in Time course in blocks 1 and 2 in the First Year Experience program. You will be expected to complete your West in Time course requirement sometime before your junior year, and you will not want to have a two-block West in Time course occurring in the middle of a series of sequenced science courses.

The Writing Program
The Colorado College wants its graduates to be able to write clearly, cogently, and gracefully. Instead of a traditional composition program, Colorado College offers a multi-level Writing Program that supports writers of all levels and coordinates writing across the disciplines. Over two decades ago, the faculty at Colorado College agreed that students who write about their interests are more engaged in their writing. As a result, the college decided to drop its traditional composition program in favor of a program that would allow students to work on their writing in courses across the curriculum. This decision allowed the Writing Program to emphasize the value of learning to write within particular disciplines and how writing styles vary across disciplines.

Writing Emphasis Courses
Writing Emphasis courses provide opportunities for students to continue to improve their writing skills through practice and criticism. The writing component of each course is related to course content and is intended to promote learning within the field as well as greater facility in writing. In some cases, the writing component may emphasize the challenges of writing for a particular discipline. Writing Emphasis courses have limited enrollment to allow time for individual conferences, small group sessions, and detailed criticism. Writing Emphasis courses can be found in the course schedule.

The Writing Center and Writing Adjuncts
The Writing Center offers an arena where students can work through the writing process and improve the expression of their ideas by participating in individualized conferences with trained peer consultants and professional staff. Students are encouraged to take advantage of their services: one-on-one consultations during which students can work on their writing in any stage—from inception to revision of a “finished” draft—with peer consultants; workshops that address a spectrum of learning-enhancing skills (e.g., critical reading, public speaking, brainstorming, incorporating research, interpreting data, etc.); and continuing tutorials for students with serious writing issues (underprepared, anxious, etc.), students working on major projects (thesis, seminar papers, grant proposals, etc.), students with disabilities, and speakers of English as a second language.

The Writing Center offers the adjunct course GS 200: Writing Practicum which allows students to focus their attention on analytical writing, primarily by working concurrently with their regular block class. Depending upon enrollment, the course is taught in small groups or through individualized consultations. If appropriate, the course will review writing theories, disciplinary conventions, and rhetorical strategies. Students at all levels of writing competency and comfort are encouraged to enroll if they want to improve both critical thinking and analytical writing skills. The adjunct is offered during Blocks 3-8. Visit the Writing Center website for more information or call (719) 389-6742.

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ALL-COLLEGE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE BA
Students enrolled from September 1988 to August 31, 2005

The following requirements apply to only those students enrolled from September 1988 to August 31, 2005. They do not apply to students enrolled prior to September 1988. Students who enrolled prior to September 1988 are governed by prorated unit requirements determined by the Registrar. In no case may they be disadvantaged by transition from the nine to eight block year.

1. Students must satisfactorily complete 32 units of academic credit, at least 18 of which must be taken outside of the department of the major. Students will receive one unit of academic credit for each block of course work completed with a passing grade.

2. Students must satisfactorily complete a major course of study. There are over 20 possible majors at Colorado College, including a major of the students own design, the Liberal Arts and Sciences Major. Students at Colorado College may complete a double major. The following rules must be observed: the two majors may be from traditional departmental majors or an interdisciplinary major and a departmental major as long as the latter is not a discipline making up part of the interdisciplinary major; both departments must approve the option and in no case may more than three courses within the majors overlap; the student must have an adviser in each major; student must complete all-college requirements.

   The number of units required to complete a major ranges from 8 to 14. The specific requirements for each major may be found in the Departmental Courses section of the catalog. The completed major(s) will be recorded on the students official transcript. This requirement will provide students the experience of study in depth.

3. The general education requirement at Colorado College includes four units of credit in Alternative Perspectives: A and B. The AP:A requirement is a two-unit course which provides an understanding of the development and the nature of significant dimensions of the Western tradition. This requirement will normally be completed by the end of the sophomore year. The AP:B requirement is two units of credit in courses that examine cultures outside the mainstream of Western culture (non-Western cultures, minority cultures within the West, and gender studies). Courses that meet the AP:A and AP:B requirements are so designated in the course schedule. A course marked AP:C fulfills either the AP:A or AP:B requirement. Courses which fulfill the AP:A and requirements are listed under the Departmental Course section of this catalog.

   This requirement will provide students with historical and critical understanding of Western culture and an understanding of and appreciation for non-Western cultures, enabling them to see both the distinctive and common elements of human cultures.

4. Students must satisfactorily complete three units of credit in the Natural Sciences, one unit of which must provide laboratory or field experience. Courses that meet this requirement are so designated in the course schedule and this catalog. This requirement provides another important perspective: that of the natural world of which humans are only a part. It will provide an understanding of the basis for most present and future technology and thus of a principal source of social change. In addition it will help students develop important quantitative skills and skills in analytical thinking, modeling and hypothesis testing by having them participate in the scientific process in the laboratory or field.

5. Students must satisfactorily complete either:

   A: a thematic minor of at least five units, including courses from at least two departments other than the major department, related through the examination of a theme, a cultural group or area of the world, or a time period. Some of the work in the minor must be beyond the introductory level, and one unit of the minor, but no more than one, may be in the major department. (For multi-department majors, the department which has the most courses is the major department.) Each minor must culminate with an integrative experience: a paper, a project, a block of independent study, a special seminar, etc. There are over 30 minors listed in the Interdisciplinary Studies and Courses section of this catalog; students also have the option of designing their own. A full description of each of the thematic minors designed by the faculty may be found in the Thematic Minor Index (available from the registrar's office). The completed thematic minor is recorded on the student's official transcript.

   This requirement promotes the student's ability to synthesize and integrate different disciplinary perspectives on a common theme.

   or

   B: a distribution requirement of nine units outside the division in which the student chooses to major. The three divisions of the College are the Humanities, the Social Sciences and the Natural Sciences.

   Humanities courses are courses in art history and theory, classics, drama and dance, East Asian Languages, English, German, music theory and history, philosophy, religion, Romance languages, Russian, and courses designated Studies in the Humanities (HS).

   Social Science courses are courses in anthropology, economics, history, political science, sociology.

   Natural Science courses are courses in biology, chemistry, geology, mathematics, physics, psychology (unless designated otherwise in the catalog), sports science, and courses designated Studies in the Natural Sciences (NS). Courses meeting requirement IV, above, also meet the Natural Science division requirement.

   Students must take at least three units in each of the divisions outside the division of the major. Three other units may come from either division outside that major or from general studies courses which are not located in any division.

   This requirement provides students with breadth of learning among the divisions of the College, and will give them a sense of both the distinctive and common elements of intellectual experience in each division.

6. Courses taken at other institutions will be granted as much equivalent credit as deemed appropriate by the Registrar.

7. Students are required to take their final eight units for the degree in Colorado College programs and courses. Exceptions to this rule may be made by the Deans Advisory Committee.

8. In extended format courses students normally earn one-half unit toward their degree requirement for each semester of work. Students may take no more than one extended format course per semester unless the Dean of the College grants permission for an overload.

9. In each adjunct course students may earn one-quarter unit toward their degree requirement for each semester of work. Students may take no more than three adjunct courses per semester, unless the Registrar grants permission for an overload.

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