Map of the Modern World has long been a School of Foreign Service institution. A required course for SFS students who don’t pass an exemption test, it focuses on geography viewed through a political lens, forcing students to learn about major territorial and ethnic conflicts since 1800 that have shaped the geopolitical world. First taught by Charles Pirtle and most recently by Keith Hrebenak, Map has been known to be a rigorous, valuable and wholly unique experience for SFS students, one without an equivalent at many peer universities.

With the arrival of James Reardon-Anderson, director of the Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service program and former dean of the School of Foreign Service in Qatar, however, [the course map has been redrawn](https://www.thehoya.com/news/sfs-approves-changes-map-course-syllabus/) with little to no input from students.

The course that Reardon-Anderson will teach this spring will place a new emphasis on the forces that shape physical geography, such as atmospheric forces and earth tectonics, and how these forces ultimately influence human behavior.

The first three lectures will most explicitly be affected by the course change, for they will focus on the scientific aspects associated with geography. How such changes will play out in the long run, however, remains to be seen. Adjustments will inevitably lead to cuts to existing course content, and given Map’s success in the past, such cuts could be for the worse.

We appreciate Reardon-Anderson’s investment in the course and his willingness to alter the course as he sees fit; we’re eager to see how his changes will ultimately affect the Map curriculum.

The problem with this overhaul is institutional. A campaign among students and alumni protesting the changes, as illustrated by the popular Facebook group [“Take Back Map of the Modern World,”](https://www.facebook.com/search/?q=take+back+map&init=quick#/group.php?gid=283447210202&ref=search&sid=1239960152.324479924..1) has become viral; many of those involved are desperate to preserve the traditional Map curriculum. In meetings with concerned students and student representatives of the SFS Academic Council, Reardon-Anderson has been reportedly reluctant to adjust to the student perspective.

Curriculum changes and departmental decisions should not be decided entirely by students, of course. Adjustments to syllabuses are the prerogative and responsibility of academic professionals. That said, the purpose of student-run bodies like the SFS Academic Council is to foster communication between students and the administrators, deans and faculty of a given school in discussions about topics like curricular change.

Any proposed modifications to a course as foundational as Map of the Modern World is to the SFS experience deserve the input of the students affected. The SFS administration’s reticence to collaborate with students, or at least take their views into account in enacting this curricular change, effectively silences the voice that students deserve to have.

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