This post was written by Hatchet reporter Mary Sette.

The GW School of Business is mulling a requirement for undergraduates to minor outside the college, in line with the school’s recent plans for a more liberal arts-based curriculum.

Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou, the associate dean for undergraduate programs, said the plan for a required minor is still tentative, but added that feedback has been “positive” from faculty, students and alumni.

The business school would be the first at GW to mandate that students take a minor, which usually comprises about 18 credits.

The requirement would need the greenlight from the school’s faculty. Plans for a new curriculum has been pushed back twice over the past year, and Bajeux-Besnainou has said she does not have a target date for a vote or implementation.

“The specific details cannot be discussed yet,” she said in an email. “The only thing I can say is that we are looking at a lighter business core to provide the bandwidth for a more in-depth liberal arts education.”

The reform would be part of Dean Doug Guthrie’s agenda to focus the school on ethics and social responsibility in an era of Wall Street corruption.

While Bajeux-Besnainou said she hopes the required minor coupled with the school’s new liberal arts approach will give more “flexibility to our students,”  junior Sevara Mallyn is not so sure.

Mallyn, a junior double concentrating marketing and international business, said she thinks the business school already has enough requirements, and gives “very little leeway to make more demands of their students.”

“Students will have to think about what minor to take when they are not even sure what to major in,” said Mallyn.

Now, undergraduates take only one or two non-business electives each year and including courses on ethics, foreign language and science.

Bajeux-Besnainou has said the school would look to tweak that format to give students more academic breathing room.

Sophomore Matt Guarnaccia shared concerns over this possible new requirement.

“I think the business school should worry about how to increase their percentage of satisfied graduating students rather than potentially upsetting them further by making it a necessity to have a minor,” Guarnaccia said.

Bajeux-Besnainou said there would be some difficulties “if students have a hard time deciding on a particular minor, in which case the advising office will serve an important role.”