The integrative studies programs are in desperate need of an intensive revamping. Enrolling in any integrative studies course is a hit-or-miss affair. Some students have wonderful experiences covering timely topics with enthusiastic professors. Others find the classes wholly irrelevant and extreme wastes of time. And with vague course titles such as "Global Diversity and Interdependence" or "People and Environment," it's almost impossible for students to know what they're getting into.

Provost Lou Anna Simon's welcome proposal would converge the programs, bringing Integrative Studies in Arts and Humanities, Integrative Studies in Social Science and Integrative Studies in Biological and Physical Sciences under a central administrator.

Besides evoking a sigh of relief from students campuswide, this reorganization would eliminate overlaps among the various course topics and help administrators create classes geared toward specific majors. Ideally, this new setup would allow average students to pick and choose integrative courses with more freedom.

Still, concerns remain that students might get tunnel vision as their courseloads become too degree-specific.

This reorganization, we hope, would avoid that by maintaining general education, only making the classes more relevant to any given major. For example, biology students should be reading "Frankenstein," not "Wuthering Heights."

But if this revitalization is to be effective, it must execute more than just a title and curriculum change. Administrators need to ensure that integrative courses are being taught by professors truly interested in their specific material and not just working for a paycheck.

This change is long overdue and might not take effect for a long time, but at least the university recognizes the problems within the integrative studies programs and is working to eliminate them.