Update and Correction: A previous version of this article stated that all CIE-200 sections will be tied to APEX hubs in Spring 2027. As of a recent follow-up discussion between the Provost’s Office and CIE Coordinator Diane Skorina, this change will take effect in Spring 2028 if approved by faculty vote. Skorina notes that students will continue to have the opportunity to make suggestions concerning the CIE syllabus. Additionally, it failed to note that a new PBL designation has not yet been decided on by the faculty.
Furthermore, direct causality between financial pressures and syllabus changes was incorrectly implied; the author accepts full responsibility for this mischaracterization.
Ursinus’ website describes the Common Intellectual Experience (CIE) as “[w]hat unites the Ursinus experience[.]” Under APEX’s influence, CIE is changing.
Almost everything about CIE—from its syllabus, to the structure and membership of the small pseudo-committee that runs it, to the portions of the faculty handbook that address it—is decided democratically by Ursinus faculty, or by committees elected to represent them. In this spirit, on February 5, 2026, approximately 20 faculty members from various departments met for a CIE Salon, a discussion about upcoming and proposed changes to how CIE is run and administrated. This salon was one manifestation of faculty conversations about how CIE may be influenced by APEX that have been taking place over the last year. These considerations come following both the implementation of APEX and the recent loss of 30 faculty. What follows are the biggest changes and concerns brought up at the salon.
CIE Sections to be Tied with APEX Hubs
Beginning as soon as Spring 2028, all CIE-200 sections may be tied with APEX Hubs, a change being piloted just this semester: of the 21 sections of CIE-200 being taught in Spring 2026, ten are associated with a specific APEX hub. (Admission to these hub-associated sections of CIE does not require being a member of any specific hub.) The plan, according to a presentation given at the salon, is for these hub-associated sections to be one-half to two-thirds common curriculum, shared by all CIE sections, with the rest of the syllabus composed of readings tailored to each respective Hub. However, outside of the ten pilot sections, no such changes have been made yet—as reported by The Grizzly in Spring 2025, all CIE syllabus changes must be voted on by the governing faculty of the college. The vote concerning ties between CIE sections and APEX hubs will take place as part of the typical CIE syllabus change process.
New Focus on Project-Based Learning
As part of an ongoing effort to promote project-based learning (PBL), the faculty in attendance discussed how CIE-200 might be changed to both promote PBL within the class, as well as provide a primer on PBL for students; the faculty are currently in discussions about adding a PBL designation to the Core requirements. Several faculty voiced an interest in making CIE-200 less similar to CIE-100 and providing students with a new, more hands-on experience.
Concerns About Staffing
CIE, according to one professor present at the meeting, is “the hardest course to teach.” A lot of hands are needed to keep the CIE machine running smoothly—this semester, 20 professors are teaching 21 sections of CIE. Though an administrator reports that Fall ‘25 was the easiest semester of CIE to find professors for in several years, the upcoming departure of 30 professors—a nearly 22% drop in full-time faculty population—raises concerns about staffing future sections of CIE, especially regarding participation among departments hit more strongly by staffing cuts or with curricula that place higher demands on their professors.
The reduced faculty resources on campus complicate the new plan to tie CIE sections with APEX hubs. One humanities professor expressed discomfort at the idea that they might be asked to teach a Science and the Common Good section of CIE. In response, another professor pointed out, “[the faculty] never really settle the question of whether any professor is qualified to teach CIE,” and noted that an important part of the experience is, “[modelling] being in over [their] heads as teachers.”