The university system in the American subcontinents began not in the business of pure academia, but rather in the business of religion.

Harvard was founded in 1636 primarily to train clergy. Having said that, universities today, including Harvard, are mostly secular institutions. Loyola is one of the exceptions. Despite Loyola’s tie to the Roman Catholic Church, the religious department does not cater to religious studies majors or minors.

How can this be? How can a department not cater to their own majors? The answer lies in the common curriculum.

Loyola students have to take nine hours of religious studies courses to complete their degree, no matter what their major is. Because the total number of students greatly outweighs the number of religious studies majors, the religious studies faculty has to direct the majority of its resources to providing common curriculum classes.

Due to this heavy demand on the religious studies department, there are not many classes for religious studies majors. So far, the solution has been to split the major classes between other departments such as the Honors department and the environmental studies department.

To speak to the volume of religious studies resources being expended on the common curriculum, this semester there are 16 Introduction to World Religions classes being taught. That is about 43 percent of the departmental courses offerings on just one class!

What is the solution? Either hire more religious studies faculty, or scale back on the amount of religious studies courses required in the common curriculum. Of these two, the latter makes the most sense. Frankly, there are not enough religious studies majors at Loyola to justify hiring more religious studies faculty.

The university is currently sacrificing the course offering for religious studies majors in order to teach religious studies courses to more students. Which is the greater evil? That depends on what the goal is. If it is producing very qualified religious studies majors, we are not doing it—however, if it is about spreading the importance of religious studies to the masses, Loyola is on track.

Is this fair to the religious studies majors? Probably not. They are in a major, that due to limited course offerings, does not prepare them to the fullest for graduate school. For this reason alone, revision is needed. A Catholic school turning out unprepared religious studies majors just seems wrong. If higher level religious studies course are not a reality then the major should become a minor only.

Philosophy students, business students, music students, etc. all leave here an expert in their field, and for this reason alone, they can compete with students from across the nation. This is not always the case for Loyola religious studies majors. Letting a major fall casualty to mass production is not acceptable. Students pay for a full education, not a collection of entry level courses.