{"id":31875,"date":"2026-04-01T14:50:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T14:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/?p=31875"},"modified":"2026-04-01T15:01:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T15:01:28","slug":"macalester-announces-new-graduation-requirement-applied-bagpipe-minor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/2026\/04\/macalester-announces-new-graduation-requirement-applied-bagpipe-minor\/","title":{"rendered":"Macalester Announces New Graduation Requirement: Applied Bagpipe Minor"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 1, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Paul, Minn.\u2014 Macalester, consistently ranked among the nation’s top liberal arts institutions, announced today a change to it’s core curriculum. Starting with the incoming Class of 2030, students will be required to complete a minor in Applied Bagpipe Theory and Performance to be eligible for graduation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approved by the Board of Trustees in March, the minor seeks to institutionalize the college\u2019s piping tradition. While Macalester has long been recognized as a “top producer” of Fulbright scholars and Peace Corps volunteers, leadership believes this new requirement will provide students with a “signature sound” that distinguishes them in a competitive job market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur mission is to prepare students for a complex, ever-changing world,\u201d said President Rivera. \u201cThis is one way Macalester can distinguish itself among other colleges and is part of our strategic plan, Imagine, Macalester.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faculty approved a new curriculum plan, the first overhaul in forty years, in February. <\/p>\n\n\n

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“In a world of AI and digital noise, there is nothing more authentically human\u2014and impossible to ignore\u2014than thirty students practicing on the Great Lawn<\/blockquote>\n Mike Breidenbach ’96<\/cite>\n \tDirector of Piping<\/cite>\n \"\"\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

The 20-credit minor will be interdisciplinary, offering specialized tracks for every major. Some courses include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • BGP-204: Reed Aerodynamics<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • BGP-310: Bagpipes as a Tool for Post-Colonial Resistance<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • BGP-401: Lung Hyper-Expansion and Circulatory Management<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • First Year Course: Outlander\u2014Witchcraft, Time Travel, and Bagpipes<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWe recognize this is a bold step,\u201d said Mike Breidenbach \u201996, Director of Piping. \u201cBut in a world of AI and digital noise, there is nothing more authentically human\u2014and impossible to ignore\u2014than people practicing on the Great Lawn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For more information on the new requirement or the upcoming Kilt Fitting during Orientation, visit macalester.edu\/april-fools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Founded in 1874, Macalester College is home to the award-winning Macalester College Pipe Band and, as of today, over 500 new pipers.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The new minor requirement applies to new students only. <\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31879,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-uncategorized","mediatype-articles"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"fields":{"main_feature_story":"","custom_image":false,"custom_link_url":"","custom_feature_title":"","custom_feature_caption":"","custom_markup":"","custom_markup_link":"","custom_markup_title":"","custom_markup_caption":"","byline":"","article_type":[8],"post_thumbnail_style":"default","flickr_photoset_id":"","youtube_id":"","square_thumbnail":false,"press_downloads":false,"press_photos":false,"story_title":"","story_caption":"","rotations":false,"maps":false,"marker_title":"","marker_text":"","geographic_location":false,"feature_embed":"","news_icon_name":"","image_options":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31875"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31905,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31875\/revisions\/31905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}