This morning the Committee on the Core Curriculum released a statement announcing that Frontiers of Science has been removed from the Core Curriculum.

The statement claimed that the main cause for the cancellation was the class’s overall lack of useful education. It cited interviews and conversations with students that stated “literally nobody” enjoyed the class or took it seriously and that the lecture served as “a time for students to surf the internet on their laptops.” In anonymous student evaluations, the discussion sections were described as “boring” and “drawn out.”

According to the statement, Frontiers of Science has been under discussion for a few semesters, but only now is the Committee ready to make major changes to the program. It cited Froscanity as a reason for this shift: “It was only after Emlyn Hughes’ enlightening introductory class, in which he stripped, stabbed stuffed animals, and showed footage of 9/11, that the Committee realized that Frontiers of Science was an ineffective way to introduce first-years to the sciences.”

The cancellation is effective immediately, meaning that today’s 11AM lecture has been cancelled, as have all lectures, discussion sections, homework assignments, quizzes, and finals until the end of the semester. All credits from the class have been removed from transcripts, and students will have to make up for them by other means. “We regret the inconvenience this sudden change will no doubt cause for students,” the statement concedes, “but we came to the unanimous decision that an immediate action would best serve our new goals for the Columbia science requirement and for the Core.”

Incoming freshmen will be glad to know that instead of the current Frontiers lecture-discussion setup, they will have the option to take any introductory math or science course to have it count for the added third semester of their science requirement, which can be fulfilled at any time. Bwog recommends courses such as “Physics for Poets” or “Weapons of Mass Destruction” for humanities majors not thrilled about the additional science requirement.

No word yet on the Committee’s review of University Writing.