In a celebrated move that offers more flexibility to humanities majors, Georgetown College of Arts and Sciences Dean Dr. Jonathan Benson announced this week that the college will begin offering a new “Thoughts, Feelings, and Ideas” (TFI) major.
“This is a huge step forward for Georgetown,” said Dr. Benson during Thursday’s press conference. “The majors currently offered by the college are far too constricting for many of our students, who possess a remarkable social-emotional capacity to exist.”
Students in the College showed enthusiasm for the new program.
“I was going to major in Interdisciplinary Studies,” said Derek Michaels (COL ’18). “But I really felt like the course options were excessively specific and going to bottleneck my intellectual development. Goodbye, ‘PSYC-130: Cognition’ – I’ve found another course to love, and its name is ‘TFI-220: On Being.’”
Dr. Benson gave a brief overview of the requirements for the TFI major, asserting that the program will be quite rigorous.
“Though it may seem vague, TFI is not completely open-ended. TFI majors will be required to take a gateway class, in which they discuss the things that they felt and thought that day, as well as any ideas they may have had. Majors will also have to take 12 more courses to be chosen from a list compiled by faculty members that is strictly limited to those which touch on thoughts, feelings, and/or ideas.”
The University is currently searching the nation for a professor qualified to head the TFI major.
“It has been a real struggle finding someone with the background necessary to teach these kinds of classes,” said Assistant Hiring Director Vanessa De Santos. “Sure, there are plenty of people qualified to teach students about thoughts, or feelings, or ideas – but it is nearly impossible to find someone with ample experience in all three areas.”
“It makes me feel disillusioned. I think I’ll have to work on some new recruitment ideas,” added De Santos, sighing and gazing out the window wistfully.
Due to the TFI major’s expected popularity, students will be admitted based on merit after a rigorous application process. The application is rumored to include such probing questions as “What is one feeling that you have had, and how was that feeling reflected in your ideas?” and “What are you thinking about right now?”
Dr. Benson ended his statement by reaffirming his excitement about the TFI program.
“I feel confident that this program will forge an entirely new generation of Georgetown students who are wholly prepared for a world in which they must feel, think, and most importantly, be.”
