History of the Program of Liberal Studies
"The Program curriculum is predicated on confidence that what society and the church need most are men and women who are not afraid of new ideas, who are eager to see the world in its variousness, and who can think, write, and speak for themselves."-Professor Stephen Fallon
In 1950, the Program of Liberal Studies, then called the General Program, was founded at Notre Dame as an experiment in Catholic liberal education.
With the creation of the General Program, Notre Dame joined the Great Books movement, which had begun at Columbia University in the l920s and was extended to the University of Chicago in the 1930s. Notre Dame aimed to create a Catholic Great Books program, one that would integrate faith and reason and cultivate its students' abilities to analyze, articulate, and write effectively.
When the Program began, education centered on the Great Books was controversial. The Church had included many of the Great Books on its Index of Forbidden Books. The seminar style of instruction, in which students were required to speak their minds, was a radical departure from traditional lecture methods. Yet, the pilot program that began with only five faculty and 40 students thrived. The General Program became a a vibrant intellectual community and a mainstay in the College of Arts and Letters.