Letter: This is your brain on psychology

By Dr. Keith Dobson

Editor, the Gauntlet,

We are writing to follow up the letter to the editor that was recently published in the Gauntlet (“No problems with Psych program,” Feb. 14), which was in turn submitted in response to interview comments attributed to Dr. Donald Kline, a member of the department’s faculty, in a Gauntlet article by Mr. Christian Louden (“The struggle between class size and availability,” Jan. 31). In that letter, it was stated that the first article “contained a serious error,” namely that “Dr. Kline stated that the department of psychology requires its majors to complete Psychology 369, yet it did not provide enough seats for students to register in this course in the winter session of 2008.”

After carefully reviewing the article and discussing its content with Dr. Kline, we now realize that he did not state that psychology majors are required to complete Psychology 369 in meeting their degree requirements, nor did he say that they have experienced any difficulty in gaining entry to courses needed to complete their degree. His concern was and remains the access of students to 300-level psychology courses more generally, whether they seek to complete a degree in psychology or not. As such, we regret any confusion over this issue which the previous statement may have caused.

Again, having discussed this issue with Dr. Kline, it is clear that we all agree that the principal concern remains the delicate balance among class sizes, student access to courses and the quality of the classroom experience.

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