|
PROPOSAL TO THE COLLEGE
OF ARTS & SCIENCES
Submitted by the
Environmental Ethics Facilitating Committee
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Appendices
Introduction In recent years, there has been growing recognition that the pursuit of knowledge and the struggle for justice have a wider compass than traditionally understood. Whereas traditional approaches to justice have centered on the relationships among human beings, contemporary thinking also considers the inseparable connections between our species and the natural environment. Recent attention to these connections has fostered improved conditions for people, other biota, and the environments on which all living creatures depend. At the same time, there is evidence of rapid depletion of resources, pollution of air and water, and loss of biodiversity. There is also concern about the distribution of environmental effects on populations of varied economic means. As a community concerned with the pursuit of truth and justice, Marquette University should offer students the intellectual resources for understanding and reflecting on the ethical implications of their own and their communities’ thinking and practice regarding environmental matters. To a certain extent Marquette already does this. The past two decades have witnessed the introduction of a number of classes, taught in various disciplines, that bear on these issues.3 For nearly a decade, the interdisciplinary program in Urban & Environmental Affairs has provided an integrative program, one found only at Marquette, for students whose interests span urban and environmental issues.4 However, a degree program geared expressly toward providing detailed and synoptic knowledge of environmental issues in combination with a systematic focus on their ethical dimensions does not exist at Marquette. Nor does one exist at any other Jesuit college or university in the United States.5 The proposed minor in environmental ethics will address this lacuna through a program that is highly appropriate to Marquette’s Catholic, Jesuit educational mission.6 The minor will also strengthen Marquette’s standing as a school offering options for environmental studies that are unique among U.S. Jesuit colleges and universities.
Program Goals and Objectives
Appropriateness to Marquette’s Mission and Students A minor in environmental ethics is appropriate for students in many programs within the College of Arts & Sciences. It may particularly appeal to students majoring in Urban & Environmental Affairs, pre-law studies, Biology, Education, Philosophy, Political Science and Theology, all of which touch at least implicitly on the ethical dimensions of ecological issues and problems. The minor may also attract students in the College of Engineering, particularly those concentrating in Civil and Electrical curricula, because ethical considerations surface either explicitly or implicitly when projects are being planned or revised.7
Description of the Program and Curriculum
Biology 040–Ecology
Economics 163–Environmental & Natural Resource Economics
Philosophy 132–Environmental Philosophy
Physics 009–Earth & Environmental Physics
Theology 171–Foundations for Ecological Ethics ARSC 110–Capstone Seminar in Environmental Ethics Assuring the availability of these courses is crucial to students so they can complete the minor in about two years. The biology, economics and physics core courses are offered annually. The philosophy and theology courses are presently listed in the undergraduate bulletin as offered only occasionally, though the chairs of the respective departments will seek approval to upgrade the availability of these courses to every other year if the minor is offered by the College.9 As already indicated, the capstone seminar will be offered every other year. The coordinator of the minor will be in regular communication with the departments offering core courses to assure that they are taught on a timely basis so students are able to complete the minor within a two-year period.10 Prerequisites for Biology 040 and Economics 163 also affect access to courses that are integral to the minor. The professors who teach these courses have waived some requirements for majors and minors in Urban & Environmental Affairs, and both are willing to do so for minors in environmental ethics. Moreover, Biology 040 will be listed in pre-registration materials as requiring "consent of instructor," while Economics 163 will require only Economics 043 as a pre-requisite. The effects of granting consent to minors in environmental ethics to take Biology 040 without prerequisites will be among the matters evaluated by students and faculty involved in this program.
The Interdisciplinary Nature of the Minor Because the proposed program is interdisciplinary and integrated in ways other than a strict course sequence, students may take the core courses in any sequence. A case might be made for encouraging students to take Biology 040/140 as an initial overview of scientific approaches to ecology. Beyond this, students may take courses in an order that best fits their schedules and other disciplinary commitments. The only exception is the minor capstone seminar, which optimally should be taken after or during the semester in which the student completes his or her requirements for the minor.11
Coherence of the Program for Students and Faculty To assure attention to program coherence among faculty, the program director will foster communication and the sharing of curricular information among faculty teaching courses in the minor core, and will hold at least one meeting during each academic year. Program coherence will also be an ongoing concern of a faculty facilitating committee, a group chaired by the program director whose membership will be drawn from among faculty teaching in the core and other members of the university community with environmental expertise or interest.12 The minor director will also work with students and faculty to underscore elements in core courses that are crucial to environmental ethics minors and to identify other ways to foster a sense of common purpose among those involved in the program.
The Distinctiveness of the Proposed Minor Nevertheless, five of the six required courses for the proposed minor are among the many options allowed for the minor in Urban & Environmental Affairs. Consequently, students could apply some of the same courses toward both minors.13 While these two minors complement one another and faculty advancing the proposed minor want to avoid competition between the Urban & Environmental Affairs minor, the minor in environmental ethics may be further distinguished by allowing students to apply only three courses used toward a minor in Urban & Environmental Affairs. Furthermore, a letter and certificate of completion of the environmental ethics minor will be given only to those students who demonstrate this difference in courses toward both minors. Finally, ways of underscoring the differences between the two aforementioned minors will be considered and additional options explored annually by faculty and students.
Program Administration and Evaluation
Availability of Faculty and Resources A commitment from the Theology and Philosophy departments is needed to enable one faculty member to act as director of the minor on a two-year rotational basis and as the instructor of the senior capstone seminar falling within his or her term of service. Those departments also need to recognize the professor’s service to the environmental ethics minor as contributive to his/her service to the department and the College. The chairs of Philosophy and Theology have indicated their willingness to make these commitments and anticipate that intra-departmental approval will be secured this Fall.16 Print and electronic resources will be sought by faculty teaching the required courses through the usual department channels. Because the nature of the minor is interdisciplinary, faculty will be attuned to needed sources that transcend their own disciplines and seek cost sharing by pertinent departments. All faculty will look for new resources and alert one another to any that appear appropriate to the minor. On behalf of the minor, the director of the minor will pursue the feasibility of funding for sources directly from the library without having to go through department representatives. Community resources are especially vital for courses that address ecological problems as well as for the capstone seminar on the ethical dimensions of bioregional problems. Resources in the metropolitan Milwaukee area include the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Great Lakes Research Facility, several nature centers (e.g., Riveredge, Schlitz Audubon, Wehr, and Retzer), environmental advocacy organizations (e.g., Citizens for a Better Environment, Greater Milwaukee Toxics Minimization Task Force, Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, Keep Greater Milwaukee Beautiful, Timber Wolf Preservation Society, Urban Coastal Center, and Waukesha Land Conservancy), and private businesses. Among the many resources available in the Chicago area is the Environmental Protection Agency, with its Environmental Justice Program Office.
Student Interest and Marketing In the Spring of 2000, a short survey was administered to students in some sections of Theology 001, Philosophy 050, and Physics 009 to determine interest in an interdisciplinary minor in environmental ethics. Of the 618 students surveyed, an encouraging 20.9% indicated interest in a minor ranging from "some interest" to "strong interest."17 Fourteen students voluntarily wrote that they would have been very interested in the minor if offered to them in a more timely fashion. Their statements were not counted in the survey results. Additional surveys among students may stimulate interest in the program as it nears the implementation stage. If, as hoped, the minor program receives the approval of the College during the Fall of 2000, Mellon funds have been procured to sponsor an event to be held in Spring 2001 to announce and promote the minor. Students for an Environmentally Active Campus has expressed interest in helping in any way, and many creative and exciting ideas are surfacing. Budget and Cost Effectiveness However, additional budget items may be necessary if the minor draws significant numbers of students to the required courses. If the capstone seminar is oversubscribed and needs to be taught annually, an additional $2500 would be needed on an annual basis to hire someone to teach another upper-level course in the Philosophy or Theology departments on a rotational basis. Though Biology 040/140, Physics 009 and Economics 163 have had space available in the past and may be expected to absorb additional students minoring in environmental ethics, and though upper division theology and philosophy courses seldom have space available, heavy demand for Philosophy 132 and Theology 171 may cost an additional $2500 annually to hire someone to teach other upper-level courses in those departments.19 In order to determine the need for this budget item, the number of students enrolled in the courses required for the minor will have to be monitored to see how many are actually seeking the minor. Another aspect of the proposed minor to be monitored for budget estimation purposes is the number of students taking the capstone seminar. If under-subscribed, the capstone may not be cost-effective. Though exact figures are not available to estimate how many students should be enrolled in a seminar to make it cost-effective, the Dean has encouraged the enrollment of twelve to fifteen students.20 If the minor attracts sufficient students to require a budget item of $2500 to teach another theology or philosophy course annually and if the capstone is oversubscribed and needs to be offered annually, a total of $5000 may be needed annually to support the minor. Factoring this or another amount into the budget is among the issues to be determined by faculty involved in executing and evaluating the proposed environmental ethics program. Conclusion
Appendix A Fall 1994 – First Philosophy course in environmental ethics offered at Marquette under Philosophy 132--Environmental Philosophy. Fall 1996 – First Theology course in environmental ethics offered at Marquette under Theology 149--Contemporary Moral Problems: Theocentric Foundations for Environmental Ethics. May 1998 – Rev. Albert Fritsch, S.J., Visiting Professor of Philosophy and Campus Environmental Assessment Consultant to Marquette recommended the establishment of an environmental ethics program. November 1998 – Mellon Grant to Drs. Christine Hinze and Jame Schaefer to investigate an optimal design of an environmental ethics minor through contacts with other Catholic colleges and universities at a conference sponsored by the University of Portland and the United States Catholic Conference and to organize a meeting of faculty from other pertinent departments to share findings and discuss options. May 1999 – Meeting of Drs. Christine Hinze/Theology, James Maki/Biology, Kevin Gibson/Philosophy, and Jame Schaefer/Theology with Dr. John Pustejovsky to report on findings by Maki and Schaefer at the Portland conference and to learn the various steps the College requires for establishing a minor. August 1999 – Letter of invitation to heads of departments in the various colleges that offer courses pertaining to the natural environment to identify faculty interested in attending a meeting aimed at planning to establish an environmental ethics minor at Marquette. September 1999 – Interdisciplinary faculty meeting to report findings on the Portland Conference and to map out a plan for advancing a minor in environmental ethics for Fall 2001; departments represented were Biology by Dr. James Maki, Economics by Dr. Douglas Booth, English by Dr. Milton Bates, Philosophy by Drs. Kevin Gibson and Owen Goldin, Physics by Dr. Kenneth Mendelson, Political Science by Dr. John McAdams, and Theology by Drs. Christine Hinze and Jame Schaefer. October 1999 – Theology Department proposes and College of Arts & Sciences approves Theology 171--Foundations for Ecological Ethics. November 1999 – Interdisciplinary faculty committee meeting on components of an environmental ethics minor proposal, major decisions that would have to be made, and volunteers to complete requisite tasks. January 2000 – Second Mellon grant to Drs. Hinze and Schaefer to advance a proposal for an interdisciplinary minor in environmental ethics, including the identification of parts of the proposal that each faculty member would write and conducting a workshop during which the proposal would be finalized and plans would be made for passing the proposal through the various steps of the approval process, the best possible ways to discern interest among students, and ideas for a Spring event to promote the minor. February 2000 – Interdisciplinary faculty committee meeting to overview the composite of the various parts of the proposal submitted by faculty (draft #1), to recognize additional parts needed, and to identify actions and letters requisite at the various department levels to assure the integrity of the proposal. Faculty members affirmed the desire to have a student serve on the committee and decided to ask Students for an Environmentally Active Campus (SEAC) to identify a representative. March 2000 – Interdisciplinary faculty committee meeting to review draft #2, identify further needs, and plan workshop for May. April 2000 – Survey of students in Theology 001, Philosophy 050, and Physics 009 to determine interest in a minor in environmental ethics. May 2000 – Interdisciplinary faculty workshop at which decisions were made on the various aspects of the minor outlined in draft #3, reports given on the steps the departments have taken and those yet to be taken to advance the minor, an announcement made on the additional review of the proposal by the College's curriculum review committee, and ideas were shared for a Spring event to promote the minor. June 2000 – Submission of draft proposal (#4) to the Curriculum Development and Assessment Committee of the College of Arts & Sciences for input. August 2000 -- Final proposal submitted to the Curriculum Development and Assessment Committee for approval and advancement to the Board of Undergraduate Studies.
Appendix B Throughout its deliberations over the past year and a half, faculty members have been alert to the need for distinguishing the proposed minor from the one offered under the exemplary program in Urban & Environmental Affairs. The coordinator of that program has served as a member of the environmental ethics committee and has facilitated thinking that underscores the differences between the two minors while recognizing their complementarity. Faculty have also entertained the possibility of incorporating both minors into a full environmental studies program at Marquette sometime in the future, if warranted by student interest and other key courses become available (e.g., environmental policy). Several differences between the minors in environmental ethics and Urban & Environmental Affairs are discernable. Whereas the latter is geared toward the city, the proposed minor in environmental ethics is not limited to any one political, geographic or economic situation as faculty strive for student understanding of what ecology, economics, physics, philosophy and theology contribute to addressing environmental problems. Whereas the Urban & Environmental Affairs minor may include the ethical dimensions of environmental matters pertaining to the city depending on the courses the student chooses to take, the proposed minor focuses explicitly on the ethical dimensions of environmental concerns. Whereas the Urban & Environmental Affairs minor allows for considerable student flexibility in choosing seven courses, the proposed minor requires six specific courses within which links to the environmental ethics minor are made and consultations are held during the semester among faculty teaching required courses and students to assure that linkages between the course and the minor’s goals and objectives are made in class and research assignments. Whereas the Urban & Environmental Affairs minor requires students to take ARSC 120, The Environment and the City, which focuses on issues that specifically affect municipalities from scientific, ethical and economic perspectives, the proposed minor culminates in a capstone that integrates the skills and findings of the natural and social sciences to address a selected bioregional problem from various ethical perspectives. Though these two minors are discernibly distinct and provide students with different focuses, an enterprising and perceptive student could select some of the courses required for an environmental ethics minor and apply them toward a minor in Urban & Environmental Affairs. Efforts to further distinguish them may be necessary. One approach is to add to the proposed minor another appropriate course not allowed under Urban & Environmental Affairs, though the only one identifiable at this point is Anthropology 110, but this would mean expanding the minor to 21 hours because this or another course could not be substituted for any one of the five required courses. Another approach is to limit the number of courses that a student can use for both minors, which might mean choosing between the two. Members of the environmental ethics facilitating committee agree that the proposed minor is distinguishable from the Urban & Environmental Affairs minor for all the aforementioned reasons, but we recognize the need to evaluate the proposed minor annually to assure its distinction. To further underscore the distinctiveness of the proposed minor at the outset, it may be advisable to restrict the proposed minor to those students who overlap no more than three courses that are applied toward the Urban & Environmental Affairs minor and to give a certificate of completion only to those who demonstrate this difference.
Appendix C In Spring 2000, a survey of Jesuit colleges and universities was initiated to identify where other degrees in environmental ethics are offered and the nature of those degrees. Sixteen institutions responded (Canisius, Creighton, Detroit Mercy, Fairfield, Fordham, Georgetown, Loyola-Chicago Lakeshore, Loyola-New Orleans, St. Joseph’s, Saint Louis, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Seattle, Spring Hill, Wheeling, and Xavier-Ohio) while the web pages of the other thirteen were consulted (Boston, Holy Cross, John Carroll, LeMoyne, Loyola-Maryland, Loyola-Marymount, Regis, Rockhurst, Saint Peter’s, Scranton, and Xavier-New Orleans) and information is still being sought from one (Gonzaga). Copies of the fax responses and web surveys are attached along with supportive information from some of the institutions. The results of this survey indicate that many Jesuit schools offer majors and minors in environmental or ecological science or studies. Several offer courses in environmental ethics, environmental philosophy, and theology and ecology. However, not one offers a major, minor or certificate in environmental or ecological ethics. The most extensive program among Jesuit institutions is provided by Seattle University through its interdisciplinary major and minor in Ecological Studies. Outside the Jesuit domain, only the Holy Cross Fathers’ University of Portland offers a program that focuses explicitly on environmental ethics--a major in Environmental Policy and Ethics. The Augustinians’ Villanova University offers a Certificate in Applied Ethics with a concentration in The Natural Environment.
Appendix D The program objectives for an environmental ethics minor are eminently appropriate for Marquette as a Jesuit university. Establishing this degree program would signal a commitment to dedicate resources to a moral issue that has been a growing concern to the Society of Jesus since 1983. As indicated in "We Live in a Broken World -- Reflections on Ecology," (April 1999 issue of Promotio Justitiae 70 <http://lemoyne.edu/jesuit/sj/promotio>, Father General of the Society and its general congregations have struggled to identify ways in which its various ministries can contribute significantly to the ecology movement. Moral education is one of the ways identified, with particular emphasis on the need to develop "sound reflection" on the "coherence of all aspects of the ecological crisis and on the ethical responses" that are needed. Marquette would demonstrate its shared commitment to sound reflection by establishing the proposed interdisciplinary program in environmental ethics. Indeed, a program of this very type at Marquette was urged by Rev. Albert Fritsch, S.J., the leading Jesuit on ecological awareness among the members of Society, who assessed the environmental condition of our campus in 1998 while serving as Visiting Professor of Philosophy. The environmental ethics minor is also appropriate for Marquette as a Catholic university within the Archdiocese of Southeastern Wisconsin whose bishop participates in the United States Catholic Conference. In the USCC’s 1991 statement, "Renewing the Earth," the Catholic bishops urged dedication of scholarly resources to the ecological crisis and called upon theologians, scripture scholars and ethicists "to help explore, deepen, and advance the insights of our Catholic tradition and its relation to the environment and other religious perspectives on these matters" (5B). The bishops also urged "Catholic scholars to explore the relationship between this tradition’s emphasis upon the dignity of the human person and our responsibility to care for all of God’s creation" (5B). Thus, the proposed degree program would be responsive to the bishops. So, too, would the environmental ethics program demonstrate Marquette’s shared concern with Pope John Paul II. In "The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility," the Pope’s 1990 Message on the World Day of Peace (Vatican City State, 1989), the ecological crisis is characterized as "a moral problem" to which responses must be made at all levels. An education in "ecological responsibility" is especially "urgent," he writes, and he specifies that in-depth education is needed to explore "responsibility for oneself, for others, and for the earth"(#13). The Pope’s designation of this year as the Jubilee Year dedicated to seeking justice for all provides yet another reason for Marquette to establish an environmental ethics degree program through which the cardinal virtue of "justice" can be explored in local to global contexts. While emphasis in this proposal is placed on the Catholic character of Marquette University, the ecumenical value must not be overlooked if we are to serve our diverse student population. Other religious denominations have expressed concern about ecological degradation and have called for study and application (e.g., the Evangelical Environmental Network, the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, the Eco-Justice Working Group of the National Council of Churches of Christ, and individual denominations including American Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Evangelical Lutheran). A program in environmental ethics provides an opportunity to consider other religious statements on the ecological crisis and, if feasible, to collaborate with local congregations by providing research and service opportunities for students enrolled in the degree program.
Appendix E The following survey was administered to students in Philosophy 050, Theology 001 and Physics 009 in April 2000. On the other side are the tabulations of their responses. Request copy of survey from Dr. Schaefer.
Appendix F Request copies of letters from Dr. Schaefer.
Appendix G First Year
Minor Offered
Second Year Minor Offered
Fourth Year Minor Offered
Appendix H
Dr. James Maki, Associate Professor of Biology Endnotes Return to INEE Opening Page |
