Students searching course guides for the perfect schedule may
soon have more options. LSA Student Government unanimously approved
a resolution to work for the creation of a new international
relations minor Tuesday night.

“We are the only Big Ten school without an international
relations program,” said Jesse Knight, an LSA senior and
LSA-SG academic relations officer.

“It is important to have an understanding of the global
community. Nothing is broader or a better bedrock for future work
than international relations, which can be employed in business,
government and public health.”

The proposed international relations minor will be offered by
the political science department, if approved by the
department’s dean, and will take an interdisciplinary
approach to the field. The resolution suggests the minor require
history, economics, political science and foreign-language
courses.

“We are looking to package existing courses into a new
curriculum,” Knight said. “The creation of the new
minor will probably not involve new courses or new faculty.

It is unlikely the minor would be approved if it came with high
costs because of the University’s budget cuts.

“We have already received support from certain student
groups like the Michigan Journal of Political Science and the
Undergraduate Political Science Association,” Knight
said.

“We now need the Department of Political Science and LSA
curriculum committees to approve the minor. Once it passes both
groups, it will need final approval by the LSA executive committee.
If all of this happens, we may have an international relations
minor as early as fall 2004.”

Erica Brailey, a political science concentrator who plans to
study in Rome next semester, said she welcomes the new minor and
would like to take more international relations courses.

“I would be very interested,” said Brailey, an LSA
junior.

“The political science department now offers relatively
few international relations classes and it would be a great boost
for students who want to study abroad to be able to take more of
those courses.”

If the international relations minor is successful, LSA-SG aims
to expand the program so students could concentrate in the field,
said Tiffany Talsma, an LSA-SG Academic Affairs Committee
member.

“Whenever students come to our office, we ask them to fill
out a survey about what they’d like us to work on,”
said Talsma, an LSA freshman.

“International studies are always mentioned. We have also
been told by LSA academic advisors that many students are
interested in the subject.”

The University first offered academic minors in 1999. Native
American Studies, offered through the department of American
Culture, is the only new minor offered this year.

“We helped to create the new Native American studies
minor,” Knight said.

“Now we are working on international relations and next we
hope to make a business minor.”

Sixteen percent of the May 2003 graduating class completed
minors. The top five minors elected were Spanish, history, biology,
philosophy and political science, said Kathy Bennett, an academic
auditor who reviews senior transcripts.