Students discover city through urban-studies classes

Students majoring in a discipline under the umbrella of VCU’s College of Humanities and Sciences usually discover Richmond.

Why?

They’re required to explore the city. The new general-education program, which started in fall 1997, requires most students, including those in the liberal arts disciplines, to complete an urban-studies course.

“We added an urban-environment requirement,” said John Borgard, associate dean for academic affairs for the college. “All students should take a course dealing with modern urban life or engage in an academically based internship opportunity.”

John Moeser, a VCU professor in urban studies and planning, suggested students acquire an understanding and appreciation of metropolitan areas.

“Historically, we Americans have acquired an antiurban bias, and you see this reflected in efforts to move away from cities,” he said. “Yet, the heart of our civilization – the very center of our economies – are grounded in our cities. And so one thing that I hope that we can achieve is to give students an appreciation of the role that cities – that large metropolitan areas play in our society.”

No other university in Virginia stipulates an urban-studies requirement in its curriculum, he said.

“VCU was to have a special mission,” Moeser said. “A mission unique to Virginia higher education, and it was to be a university that very consciously, very deliberately focused on addressing the issues associated with urban life.”

Criminal justice, mass communications and sociology each has at least four classes that fulfills the urban-studies requirement. For example, Sociology 321 titled “Class, Status and Power” meets the urban-studies requirement while still providing a sociology student with three upper-level credits. Some courses count for two separate requirements, often called “double-dipping,” in many curricula.

Twelve other disciplines, not including urban studies and planning, have one or two courses students can complete to satisfy their urban-environment requirements.

John S. Posey, a senior political science major, said he plans to enroll in Political Science 321 “Urban Government and Politics” to satisfy his requirement while it simultaneously adds three upper-level credits to his major. An urban studies course helps students learn how the city works, he said, while instilling a “well-rounded education.”

Students in an urban-studies course become more conscious of the problems facing the city, Posey said, and he believes urban-conscious students provide a better chance of alleviating the city’s problems as a result.

Moreover, Moeser said metropolitan areas affect everyone in the United States, not just city dwellers.

“Even those who live in rural areas are very much touched and affected by what happens in the big metropolitan areas in the United States,” he said, explaining that industrialization and commercialization from the cities alter the lives of everyone, including many on such border countries as Canada and Mexico.

Moeser and Borgard contend that active student involvement in Richmond benefits the city’s citizens and the students.

“We can understand some of the issues that are really magnified in urban areas and develop a sentiment to – instead of fleeing and withdrawing from these issues,” Moeser said. “(The urban-studies requirement addresses) these issues so that we can do our part to develop better communities and to enhance the quality of life.”

Thus, VCU students can choose such courses as mentoring urban youth, youth in corrections or crime and delinquency prevention that improves the city while earning credits for college.

“These kinds of courses show you opportunities for being involved to help other people who don’t have lives as good as you do or to make the city work better,” Borgard said, adding that student involvement has “got to help.”

“I firmly believe that,” said the associate dean, who suggests that students muster the courage to study outside what they’re comfortable with, or they could miss out on some enlightening opportunities. “You may be cutting yourself off from some of the most enjoyable learning experiences that you can have.”

Borgard, whose office deals with hundreds of students each week, reiterated that the urban-studies requirement forces students to experience the city.

Not only can students choose from a wide array of topics to complete the urban-environment requirement, but they also can select service-learning courses that connect the students directly to citizens. For example, Psychology 493 allows students to meet weekly and mentor urban youth.

The diversity of courses available to the students, Moeser said, reflects the major issues and trends of urban life.

In all, 37 different courses could satisfy the urban-studies requirement, with 10 of those in the urban studies and planning discipline. Students need prerequisites to enroll in some courses.