Scholars contend that the college curriculum is increasingly politicized and trivialized in the name of diversity. Students are taught that Western culture is tainted by racism, sexism, and oppression, and the belief that liberal education can transcend differences and provide help in leading a moral life is being lost. (MSE)

Accuracy in Academia, an organization pledged to monitor college classrooms for evidence of left-wing bias, has had minimal impact on campuses and has turned instead to publication of a somewhat milder ideological student newspaper. (MSE)

Loosely structured like think tanks, humanities research centers are the true intellectual homes of many humanities faculty members and are instrumental in breaking the hardened boundaries of the disciplines. (MSE)

The movement to improve the quality of general education (the common courses taken by students outside their majors) continues. Change is difficult because it is resisted by a significant number of faculty. Experiences at the University of Wyoming and the University of Washington are described. (MLW)

A 1985 survey conducted by the Modern Language Association found that undergraduate English courses are still organized around genres or historical periods although feminist criticism and reconstruction have had a major influence on scholarly work. Attacks by Secretary Bennett and other critics of curriculum revision are discussed. (MLW)

Teachers for a Democratic Culture, a newly formed organization of humanities scholars seeking to broaden the undergraduate curriculum, is challenging criticism of scholarship and college teaching. Members maintain that such issues as political correctness and free speech on campus have been misrepresented and unfairly attacked by conservative…

The English Department at Carnegie Mellon believes they are creating a new-wave curriculum. Theoretical questions are becoming the center of undergraduate study. Scholars want students to think about the political, social, and historical forces that end up shaping a writer's vision, the written work, and the reader's interpretation. (MLW)

An Association of American Colleges report on the reform of general education offers advice to faculty and administrators for creating a campus environment in which students believe general education is more than a few required courses. (MSE)

A recent report of the American Comparative Literature Association urges that the college comparative literature curriculum be made less Eurocentric, less elitist, and open to study of nonliterary texts. Reforms are based on existing trends toward multiculturalism and postcolonial studies. (MSE)

According to speakers at the annual meeting of the American Association for Higher Education, better college teaching requires closer attention to how students learn, but colleges set a poor example for such values as empathy and cooperation. Institutions should encourage student-faculty contacts, emphasize collaboration among students, use active…

A National Endowment for the Humanities report recommends a structured core undergraduate curriculum including two years of foreign language study and a year each of natural sciences, social sciences, and basic mathematics. It emphasizes Western texts but suggests two courses on other cultures. (MSE)