Staff Editorial: Major declaration misguided

A bit of advice to the staff at the Pre-Major Advising Center--if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 Normal Keul, the director of the Pre-Major Center, was recently successful in his bid to alter the timetable pertaining to Trinity major declarations. Students enrolled in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences will now be required to declare their majors--by completing a long-range plan, composing an accompanying essay and meeting with an advisor--by March 5 of their sophomore year. In years past, the declaration deadline fell on the last day of spring semester.

 Keul and his staff cited several reasons for the change, each of which will have a marginally positive effect on students, if any at all.

 First, by moving the deadline up, the PMAC hopes students will have more direction in selecting their classes for the fall semester of their junior year. By declaring in March, students will have a better chance of getting into classes in which seats are reserved for majors. Furthermore, officials claim that majors should be chosen before students begin the process of studying abroad, so that they can plan on integrating transfer credits into their remaining time at Duke. Finally, they argued that students are too involved with final exams and papers at the end of the semester to be bothered with filling out major-related materials.

 Although these points seem reasonable in theory, they hold little weight in actuality. Most students have a conception of their intended majors when they sign up for courses mid-spring. They may still be vacillating between two options, but they have enough common sense to take necessary courses. In addition, many students want to wait to see how their second semester courses pan out before selecting their majors. Similarly, few students are short-sighted enough to go abroad without considering the necessity of fulfilling requirements for graduation.

 For many students, deciding on a major is a grueling process, and if anything, they need more time, not less. The essay and long-range plan are simply hoops to jump through, and are not productive. Each takes a short amount of time to complete, and the task is not an excuse for moving up the deadline.

 The major declaration process was not in need of alteration. If anything, the Pre-Major Advising Center should instead work to improve the ubiquitous weakness of all advising on campus. Changes are needed, but they were made in the wrong place.