To the Editor:

Re: “Bio Major Removes Intro Course; Two Electives to Take Its Place,” News, Nov. 2

This article states: “The instructors of the introductory courses, however, did not play a major role during the deliberation process” and that “the members of the committee were unavailable for comment.”

I believe these two statements to be true.

I hope that the Biology Curriculum Transition Committee will make itself available to The Sun so that the thinking that went into “Reimaging Biology” will be as transparent to those interested in introductory biology as is the thinking that has gone into “Reimagining Cornell.” A comparison of the smoky opaqueness of the Biology Curriculum Transition Committee with the transparency and openness of the offices of the President and Provost is literally like night and day.

The students and faculty in the biological sciences that were neither consulted nor informed by the committee; the many students interested in taking introductory biology as an elective to explore the breadth of the biological sciences; and the students interested in taking introductory biology as a prerequisite for taking upper level courses in majors outside biology or applying to medical school deserve to know the thinking that led to the decisions made by the Biology Curriculum Transition Committee. In the spirit of transparency, I hope that the members of the Biology Curriculum Transition Committee make themselves available to The Sun for a follow-up story.

Prof. Randy Wayne, plant biology