I am a firm supporter of greater interdisciplinarity at Ramapo. Like Mike, I was inspired by our initial vision, though I think it would be very hard to argue now that more than a small minority of the faculty are really involved with interdisciplinary scholarship or teaching. I do love the audacity, the sheer "chutzpa," of Mike's proposal for such a radical and utopian total reorganization ("ReSchooling") of Ramapo College top to bottom, across the board.

I don't think that we need to imagine such a complete revolution of the college in order to ensure a stronger and more central place for interdisciplinarity. I would suggest that the Carnegie grant be targeted to a study group from across the campus to do some of the conceptual and practical work that is outlined. I would readily join with my CA colleagues Shalom and Kathy in such a venture.

In this regard I am reminded particularly of the three-year series of faculty seminars which originated and developed the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) program. The 16 of us met closely over an extended time to do some very exciting and productive interdisciplinary work.

What would be the specific focus of such a study group at this point? In my mind an obvious one is the Gen Ed program which is in serious need of renovation and would seem to be the central point where the interdisciplinary focus of the mission could be much better developed. Sure, there is a little bit of lingering interdisciplinarity there now, but certainly nothing close to what it could be.

Other outcomes of such a study group could also be directed at the school cores–though we may not even need them if gen ed was done properly–and at the further development of interdisciplinary majors, an area where I have seen significant interest and potential for growth. Maybe further down the line something closer to what Mike is trying to promote can even begin to take hold.

Interdisciplinarity can be greatly reinvigorated at Ramapo without setting it up in ideological opposition to disciplinarity. The two can readily co-exist productively with each other. Let's look at all of those "pillars" of the mission as goals that maybe we can actually take seriously and put into practice.

Roger O. Johnson, CA