The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) has changed its requirements for junior independent work, reducing the number of required junior papers (JP) from two to one for SPIA majors in the Class of 2026 and beyond. Now juniors will work on one JP over the entire academic year in two mandatory research seminars.
The change was first announced in 2022 following faculty deliberation, but this is the first year that SPIA’s junior class will experience the new JP format.
In previous years, SPIA juniors were required to complete two junior papers to fulfill their independent work requirement: one in a non-credit-bearing policy task force and another in a credit-bearing research seminar.
The independent work changes come as SPIA changed distribution requirements for students following the Class of 2025. The department got rid of its requirement for students to take one foreign language course beyond the University requirement. SPIA also got rid of its science policy class requirement and now requires six electives for students instead of the original four. The six electives are broken into two categories: disciplinary breadth and intellectual depth.
According to SPIA Senior Associate Dean for Academic Administration Paul Lipton, the guidelines for the paper and its incorporation into SPIA’s research seminar will remain unchanged.
The Policy Task Force remains a requirement for SPIA majors, although now it is credit bearing. Analysis produced in the course will no longer be a component of the JP.
As written on the SPIA website, the new junior independent work requirement is fulfilled through completing “a year-long paper in connection with a non-credit bearing fall Introduction to Research Design (SPI 299) and a credit-bearing spring Research Seminar (SPI 300).” While SPI 299 is a non-credit course designed to introduce students to the research process, the credit-bearing SPI 300 course culminates with the writing of a topical JP.
In an interview with The Daily Princetonian, Lipton explained that the change came from a desire in the department to better prepare SPIA students for independent work. “The way the major was set up, students did their two years at Princeton, then they were thrown into one of our junior seminars.”
To remedy this problem, the department convened a committee. “Through a formal review of the undergraduate major, the committee concluded that by scaffolding the many elements of research design through a sequence of courses (SPI 298, 299, 300), the program would provide stronger preparation for independent work,” Lipton explained.
Lipton explained that prospective majors often take SPI 298: Introduction to Public Policy — Authority, Incentive, Persuasion in the fall semester of their sophomore year. While not included in the JP progression, it was designed to better serve the courses that contribute to the linear progression towards the JP.
Lipton further shared that SPIA faculty has spent two years reviewing the SPIA undergraduate major, and after extensive interviews with faculty, students, and alumni focus groups, conducted a full SPIA faculty vote on the matter.
The SPIA website was updated to reflect the new policy in 2022, adding a section to the site that explained the independent work requirement changes for the Class of 2026 and beyond. Furthermore, Lipton shared that “all public information sessions for prospective students and majors, and written material reflected this change.”
SPIA junior Samuel Kligman ’26 told the ‘Prince’ that the department’s communication was “pretty clear.” He recalled an information session explaining the junior paper requirements in the spring of 2024, when the Class of 2026 was declaring majors, as well as another information session this semester.
“There’s a junior and senior independent work document that kind of guides you through the requirements. I think I’m gonna be adequately prepared,” Kligman said.
SPIA major Vasant Patel ’26 also said he felt that the SPIA department’s communication was sufficient, sharing that he discovered the changes to the independent work by looking into the SPIA website spring semester of his sophomore year. Patel found that these changes were expanded upon more in his junior orientation as well as in his research seminar.
However, the changes have resulted in some uncertainty among students largely regarding the SPI299 course and its non-credit bearing status. While presented to students as a non-credit bearing seminar, students were informed after enrollment that their final grade in SPI 299 would be 30 percent of their JP grade, giving it stakes that SPIA students did not originally anticipate.
“SPI 299 is in this weird middle ground where it counts for credit, but it doesn’t count for credit … I wish they would have made a choice on that, rather than kind of leave us in this weird, you know, it’s non credit bearing, but there is some credit attached to it middle ground” Kligman said.
Neither the SPIA website nor the SPIA JP informational packet mentions this grading caveat. It can only be accessed through the syllabus for SPI 299.
While discussing this particular grading detail, Dean Lipton mentioned that the JP is structured to be a yearlong piece of work, involving both courses. He described the format as “obscure” and expressed a potential for the university to have both SPIA JP seminars count for credit in the future.
Patel echoed this confusion, saying there is inevitable confusion among juniors over their specific requirements and what will count towards their independent work. He did, however, share that SPIA has done a good job establishing spaces for students to have these questions answered and receive support during the changes.
The SPIA department sent an email Wednesday to all SPIA juniors, further outlining the structure of the SPI 299 class and asking for students’ feedback on the course. The survey asked students if “the content of the seminar was thus far new” to them, if they saw a connection between SPI 298 and 299, and if they felt SPI 299 would prepare them for their JP.
Despite confusion, SPIA students remain optimistic. In Kligman’s words, “Regardless of whatever bureaucratic politics and changes are going on at the moment, it’s a great department, great professors, and I couldn’t be happier.”
Patel appreciates the changes saying that “the reworking of [the junior independent work] for me is that there’s more of a focus on helping us understand research elements, research design, research methods, and stuff like that.”
Meghana Veldhuis is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from Bergen County, N.J. and typically covers faculty and graduate students.
Isabelle Roberts is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Sophie Brissett is a contributing News writer and contributing Newsletter writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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