To go into effect for students entering Fall 2026 (the graduating class of 2030) or as soon as is administratively feasible.

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To ensure the development of student literacy in issues of race, power, privilege, colonialism, and their consequences, there shall be an associated two-course curricular requirement included in the Bates curriculum.

1. Each student shall take two courses, or course-equivalents distributed across more than one course, in order to satisfy this requirement, at least one of which shall be taken as part of the student’s major and taught by faculty associated with the unit offering that major. Students may fulfill the second requirement through a course that is in any other part of their general education requirements (e.g., their minor, their general education concentration (GEC), their second major, one of their mode-of-inquiry (MOI) courses, a W1 or W2 course, an elective, or in their first major).
2. One course shall give attention to this requirement in the United States context, designated as US (RPPC US); one course shall do the same outside the United States context, and will be designated as International (RPPC I).
3. If a student is a double major, the student would take the required course or set of courses in each of the majors. In the instance where doing this does not also complete both the RPPC-I and the RPPC-US requirement, the student would need to take an additional course to complete the requirement for the missing geographic coverage.
4. Units shall designate at least one course (or a set of equivalent material spread across multiple courses) in each major they administer, taught by faculty associated with the unit offering the major, that shall be designated by the unit as US-focused (RPPC US), International (RPPC I), or both.
5. The Dean of the Faculty (DOF), Academic Affairs Council (AAC), and Curriculum Review Committee (CRC) shall monitor the number of seats offered each semester to ensure adequate offerings for students. Should a significant decrease in seats occur over two or more semesters, the AAC will take steps to ensure adequate offerings for students.
6. Units having a minor but no major shall require that students take at least one course (or set of equivalent material spread across multiple required courses) taught by faculty associated with the minor that would meet either the RPPC US or RPPC I designation or both in order to fulfill their minor requirements. Units with both a major and a minor need not include such courses within the minor.
7. With approval by the ad hoc committee or CRC, study abroad or transfer courses may be applied toward the major’s or minor’s RPPC-related requirement.
8. Units seeking to explore a distributed model for multiple courses collectively satisfying this requirement shall first discuss their plans with the ad hoc committee or CRC (see #10 and #11 below).
9. No student shall receive credit for both designations (US and I) from a single course.
10. Faculty instructors shall submit a statement of the match between course objectives and the objectives of the curricular requirement to the ad hoc committee tasked with approving the designations of RPPC US and RPPC I.
11. This ad hoc committee, consisting of one faculty member from each division, shall be elected. The committee shall review and approve the RPPC designation for courses (new courses still require approval by the Curriculum Review Committee (CRC)) using an RPPC-attribute designation form provided by AAC, and may provide support to faculty as they develop courses to meet this attribute. The ad hoc committee shall be in regular communication with CRC. The ad hoc committee shall be attentive to inequities among faculty offering these courses and help ensure equity within units regarding which faculty are offering these courses. This ad hoc committee shall exist through AY 2026-2027, at which time designation of the RPPC attributes and related tasks shall be the responsibility of CRC.