Tufts has this too…I think it is called Ex-college and they are two credit classes that can also be taken Pass/Fail
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We’ve had fairly good tour guides -but I agree - it’s SUCH an important role -they should really, really be carefully picked.
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Totally agree about having good tour guides. I’m somewhere between wanting their specific experience they had, which is useful to see the color of how it works in real life, AND wanting what the majority of students experience. It’s hard, if not impossible, to navigate this. But it’s what seems like it would be maximally useful.
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UCB has these too. They call them DeCal courses. They are great.
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We had the good version of the answer by our tour guide at Kenyon. Said he went there because of the big scholarship they gave him. Was also pre-med, but he gushed enthusiastically about how much the school supports students, how generous they were with aid to make it affordable, and how glad he is to be there now because of the community, opportunities, etc. It was clear the money is what convinced him to go, but he was so glad about his experience there. He said it with such joy that we still talk about it in my house some 10 months later with smiles on our faces. He was a fantastic tour guide.
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I will say, speaking as a college professor, that some of these classes exist largely because of intrauniversity pressures and (sometimes perverse) incentives.
I am evaluated in part on whether the classes I offer attract suitable enrollments to make it financially pencil out for the university. However, some of the classes I teach are important, but less likely to bring students into them. (Historical linguistics, anyone?) So therefore, this semester I am teaching a class on memes because I knew that would draw lots of students (to the point that it’s overenrolled) so that in the fall, when the dean says something about how historical linguistics draws fewer students than the college’s target, I can point to my memes class and respond that on average I’m still exceeding their enrollment goals.
So don’t dis the Taylor Swift classes—they’re the ones that allow colleges to continue to offer the courses that do impress you.
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I don’t really care if they are offered - honestly, a class about the business and marketing genius of her would be really interesting (her move from country singer to pop star and ability to track huge array of audiences and ages at this point is remarkable IMO), but the kid is very jaded and sick of her and sees it as a ploy by colleges (which it is 
to an extent, right? )
Of course!
(But then again, so is offering tours at all.)
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Hey, my PhD is in this field 
Anyone up for linguistic structures of Hittite and Luvian curse formulae (they actually come in handy in these times)?
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Another example: Oberlin has ExCo classes each semester and during Jan term, think juggling, sports analytics, etc.
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CU had the Experimental Studies option in the 1970s. It was a whole department, with regular credit for the courses (usually 3 credits) and they were all pass/fail. I took two:
War Movies. It was a great course all about movies made starting in 1939 (a documentary filmed by the Germans taking blood from Polish children), then to movies like The Battle of Midway where many Americans were killed and it was considered a recruitment film) and then on to post war movies made about the war,Bridge on the River Kwai. I learned a ton and still remember a lot. Taught by two 25 year old guys who may have been grad student but may have been guys just hanging out in Boulder. They put a LOT of work into the course. It was very organized.
Genealogy. Long before Ancestry.com so you had to go out in the world or write letters to gather information. Learned how to get info from grave stones, census records, research at the LDS library. Taught by a grandmother who I’m sure didn’t have a college degree. When my daughter was in SLC looking for something to do, I suggested the LDS library and she and her husband had a great time researching his family and found his last name is Hungarian, which he did not know.
Obviously electives, but I learned a lot.
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But in your opinion, should that Memes class get credit for fulfilling a major requirement or GE requirement ? How do you determine the content? Who decides if it’s college worthy ? You or is there a committee?
It’s sad but another example of pacifying the buyer but if that’s what is needed to keep customers engaged, it’s what all businesses do….or should do.
Marketing !!!
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For real though.
Respectively:
- Heck yes! Well, or at least heck yes if it fulfills the expected outcomes for one of those things. (And, in fact, the memes course I mentioned fulfills a requirement for a major—at core it’s an information literacy and analysis course, you know?)
- The same way any expert would determine applicable content for any course. It is certainly more an art than a science, but when one has both subject-matter and teaching experience, one knows the type and amount of content that’s needed for a college course at a particular level that fulfills a particular role.
- Me, at least for the special-topics courses I teach. Like, I’m the subject-matter expert, so who else is supposed to?
- For the memes course I mentioned, me. Committees are more likely to be involved in gen-eds. (Though the shells within which special-topics courses are taught are approved by committees, at most if not all institutions.)
I mean, I don’t think it’s sad at all? It’s a bit of fun for everyone. Yeah, sure, it’s a little unfortunate that I wouldn’t be able to offer a special topics course on, say, sociophonetics because enough students wouldn’t sign up for it, but that’s fine, I’ll offer a course in linguistic markers of gender in children’s animated films instead, and that’s equally fun for me and it’ll draw enrollments.
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In CU’s case of experimental Studies, they was a department or at least an office and a coordinator that approved the classes, reserved the classroom, got the description put in the course catalog. You couldn’t major in Experimental Studies, so the ‘department’ was probably just a committee made up of staff and faculty from other departments. Some were taught by professors, others by the ‘2 guys’ or the grandmother.
What harm is there is offering a 1-3 credit class in just about anything? Taylor Swift, Disney Villains, Rock Climbing, Go Cart design? I bet many of us took a class from a department (our major or not) that weren’t well organized and we can remember nothing about. Out of 120+ credits required, having 3 that weren’t that good is nothing, and maybe made college more fun.
At my daughter’s college, many of these types of classes were only offered as ‘honors’ classes and not open to everyone. It was a way to give perks to Honors students. My daughter wanted to take one on Disney and wasn’t allowed to. Not only were they given credit for these fun courses, they were HONORS credits.
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My D22 would so take that class! 
She’s about to graduate with a double major in linguistics and classical languages.
It’s a little beyond me, but just hearing her talk about this stuff makes me feel smart, lol.
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Totally respect your take on enrollment (we have the same thing where I work!)
But honestly (my opinion of course) I don’t think anyone should be dissing Taylor Swift classes anyway - she’s a remarkable musician/songwriter/business woman and she seems like a relatively decent human being (she always makes large charitable donations to the KC area when she is here for big events). Strong female role models are often minimized - I’m glad to see classes on her.
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UMN had a lettuce eating club and a chocolate milk club. Also, a squirrel watching club and a people watching people watching squirrels club.
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St. John’s College (Annapolis) has a Historic European Martial Arts Club. Kids with swords and full sets of armor at admitted students day. Once S23 saw that, it was a done deal.
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