Introduction to Humanities (IHUM) Director Russell Berman is determined to change the decidedly negative perception among freshmen that IHUM is a boring class.

Berman recently submitted a proposal to the Committee on University Standards and Policies (CUSP) that includes several changes to the range of topics offered in the humanities program required for all freshmen.

“The core humanities material will remain part of IHUM,” Berman said, “but I would like to give students a wider range of choice.”

Berman said the proposal is “a request for authorization to experiment” with course topics dealing with medicine, law and performing arts.

“We have so many students here who have strong musical talent who aren’t going to be music majors,” Berman said. “I would like them to be able to engage that expressivity in an IHUM class.”

Many IHUM faculty members shared Berman’s desire to expand the program.

“I think it would be very desirable if we had more options for students under the umbrella of IHUM,” said Professor Eamonn Callan, who lectures in this quarter’s Freedom, Equality and Difference IHUM course. “I can’t imagine any objection to an IHUM course that had a large academic element for medicine or for different legal focuses.”

IHUM Program Officer Phaedra Bell said a wider range of courses could also embrace the University’s emphasis on research.

“The beauty of an undergraduate education at Stanford is its involvement in the cutting-edge research of various fields,” Bell said. “We would like there to be courses that are involved more in research.”

IHUM sections are 50 minutes this year, down from 90 in previous years, and Berman said he would now like to experiment with the physical size of the classes. Smaller courses, Berman hopes, will add to the academic benefits of the program.

“Can we imagine a smaller IHUM lecture with 50 students?” Berman asked. “The lecture would almost be more like a larger discussion section and would foster a different relationship between faculty and students.”

Altering topic range and class size is not Berman’s only goal.

“I would also like to be able to experiment with the format of the three-quarter requirement,” he said.

Currently, students must fulfill the freshman humanities requirement by enrolling in the three-quarter Structured Liberal Education program or by taking a “1+2” IHUM sequence with one course in the fall and a second two-quarter, winter-spring sequence.

The CUSP will hear Berman’s proposal next week.

“I will review the proposal next week, and then it will go before the entire Faculty Senate sometime in winter quarter,” said Aman Kumar ‘09, a student representative on the CUSP. “If we can get things done quickly enough, we can start making staffing choices for the revised program by February.”

But even if the proposal passes through CUSP and the Faculty Senate, it must, along with the entire IHUM program, undergo a larger review in the spring of 2009, Kumar said.

“Personally, I believe the changes are wonderful,” Kumar said. “We are one of the most creative, liberal and flexible universities in the world, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be willing to experiment with such an important program.”

Although he only recently submitted his proposal, Berman is optimistic.

“I see this as really exciting and very consistent with the goals of IHUM,” he said. “In the end, I think it’s a very strong program, and my goal is to offer a range of courses so that students choose to come to Stanford because of IHUM.”