In a previous posting Economics in the Rear-view Mirror provided a except from the Faculty Minutes of Columbia University’s Faculty of Political Science agreeing to the modification of the second foreign language requirement in its Ph.D. program to allow mathematics to count for that second foreign language. Below we have the full proposal submitted by the department of economics which notes that Harvard and Chicago had already modified their own language requirements this way.
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FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
April 10, 1950
PROPOSAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS TO MODIFY THE LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT FOR THE Ph.D. DEGREE IN ORDER TO PERMIT AN OPTION IN MATHEMATICS.
The regulations of the Faculty and of the Department of Economics now require that any candidate for the Ph.D. degree in Economics shall satisfy the Department that he can read two modern languages, in addition to English. This requirement dates back to a period when very substantial parts of the important current literature in Economics were written in a foreign language, usually French or German. In recent years, however, the necessity for using more than one foreign language has become less urgent for the average economist. Much the larger part of the central core of modern economic thought is now available either in English, or in languages such as Swedish or Dutch which are not ordinarily offered toward the language requirement. On the other hand, mathematical tools are playing an increasingly large part in the study and development of Economics, and there is an important and growing body of economic literature which can be read only with some understanding of Mathematics.
The Department of Economics therefore requests approval of a modification of the present language requirement to give the candidate for the Ph.D. in Economics, in cases where it is of particular value to the candidate’s scholarly interests, the option of offering Mathematics in place of one of the two foreign languages now required toward the Ph.D. Harvard and Chicago already have such an option. The required level of proficiency in Mathematics would have to be specified rather explicitly by the Department, but this specification is not a problem of any great difficulty. The Department of Mathematical Statistics has very kindly offered its assistance in the matter.
If this proposal is approved in general principle, certain changes in the present text of the 1949-50 Faculty announcement will be required. The suggested phrasing of the changes is as follows:
With respect to the Faculty requirements:
Revise p. 24, paragraph entitled “Languages”, by adding the following sentence at the end of the paragraph:
…Prospective candidates in the Department of Economics may under certain circumstances, and with the permission of the Executive Officer of that Department, offer Mathematics and one foreign language instead of two foreign languages (see the specific requirements of the Department of Economics, below).
With respect to the Department of Economics requirements:
Substitute the following for the first five lines of the paragraph headed “Languages”, on p. 41 (option 1 is the present requirement):
Languages; Option in Mathematics. The prospective candidate must meet one of the two following requirements.
(1) The prospective candidate may satisfy the Department of Economics that he can read two modern languages in addition to Engish. The combination of French and German is preferred. Russian, Italian, Spanish or another language may be selected, with the written permission of the Executive Officer of the Department, in cases where such other language is of particular value to the prospective candidate’s scholarly interests, but ordinarily a combination of two Romance languages may not be selected.
(2) Where it is of particular value to his scholarly interests and with the written permission of the Executive Officer, the prospective candidate may offer Mathematics in the place of one of the two foreign languages. A student selecting this option will be required to demonstrate his knowledge of algebra, analytical geometry and the differential and integral calculus.
Minor changes in the text of the rest of the paragraph will also be necessary, if the second option is approved.
Source: Columbia University Libraries. Columbiana, Department of Economics Collection. General departmental notices, memoranda, etc. Curriculum material. Box 1, Folder “Committee on Instruction.”
Image Source: Alma Mater on the steps of Columbia University.