Only three international relations concentrators in the class of 2013 are currently approved to complete a thesis this year, marking a drop from previous years.
On average, about 10 to 15 undergraduates usually complete theses each year, but in the past two years there has been a "very abrupt decline," and three are planning to do so this year, said Mark Blyth, director of the international relations program and professor of political science.
The number of completed theses last year was in the low single digits, said Andrew White '13, co-head of the international relations department undergraduate group.
Recent changes in concentration requirements, in addition to the already demanding criteria for international relations theses, likely contributed to this year's decline, said Ian Slater '13, a department concentrator.
The undergraduate program in international relations was reorganized in Feb. 2011. The effects of these changes are being felt for the first time with the current senior concentrators who declared after the changes were instituted. The changes included narrowing the concentration from three specific tracks to two and adding a mandatory language requirement to be completed in the concentrator's geographic area of focus. In addition, core course requirements were increased from four to five courses, and the number of courses in a specific track grew from three to five. Two required courses were added in a concentrator's area of focus, and the number of required courses increased to 16 from 14.
Even before these changes were instituted, the international relations thesis was an extremely difficult project to take on, Slater said. He is not planning on doing a thesis as part of his concentration.
"It's original social research abroad in your language," Slater said. "It's intense."
"You have to be really, really committed if you want to do it," White said. "It's a time-intensive thesis program compared to others."
Blyth also attributed the decrease in thesis writers to a combination of factors. It was "already a tough thesis requirement, but with the upgrade in requirements it's much tougher," Blyth said. Brown students like to get involved in many other activities, so if they want to do a capstone project instead, giving them more time for other commitments, that makes perfect sense, he said.
The numbers are troubling, Blyth said, but because the decline was so sudden, the department is going to wait and see whether this is just an adjustment period, or if there are serious roadblocks to students completing theses, Blyth said. If the latter case is true, the department will consider re-working the program.
Despite the "misconception that (theses) are impossible," Hannah Braun '14 said she is planning to do a thesis in her senior year following her study abroad trip to Berlin this spring. "The standards are high, and the expectations are high," she said, but there is also a lot of support for students who are doing a thesis.
The old requirements made the program "too large, too unwieldy and too ambiguous in intellectual rationale," Blyth said, adding that the Watson Institute "wanted to make (the program) cumulative. So you're actually growing to something."
At the time of the changes, students had already registered for courses, and then-sophomores were required to declare their concentrations in the spring. After much protest from prospective concentrators in the class of 2013, the Watson Institute made a separate set of requirements for their class that was slightly less rigorous than the one in place for future classes. Concentrators who were already part of the program could finish their study with the old requirements.
White had already declared his concentration before the changes, though he said "people were kind of caught in the headlights."
"Things could have been planned better," White said.
"I think my class was a little lost," said Slater, who had not declared at the time of the changes. They just happened so abruptly, he said, adding that if they had happened earlier in the year or more gradually it might have been easier to adjust.
"Logistically, it would be impossible for a lot of people in my grade to fulfill the requirements," Slater told The Herald in 2011. Many people switched to other concentrations because of the reorganization, Slater then told The Herald.
Now Slater said he thinks completing the requirements, especially if students begin as underclassmen, is completely feasible. The added rigor, he said, "weeded out a lot of people who don't want to be (international relations)," or who did not show a real commitment to the course of study.
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the Watson Institute for International Studies was behind the changes to the international relations concentration requirements and that no international relations concentrators in the class of 2013 were completing a thesis. In fact, the Watson Institute was not responsible for changes to the international relations program, and three concentrators from the senior class will be writing an international relations thesis. The Herald regrets the errors.
