Legitimization of subject matter in a design intensive degree program

This is a descriptive study at the departmental level of a university. It provides a glimpse into the ways that this department, as an academic community implementing a design intensive degree program, deals with the conflicts between accreditation as a system of program assessment and the processes that distinguish them as a culture. The process under primary investigation was modification of curriculum to introduce subject matter into the degree program (one possible terminus of subject matter´s progress toward legitimization: recognition of being both integral to the required portion of the curriculum and well defined by cultural agreement and system records). Employing ethnomethodological strategies, the researcher maintained prolonged contact with members of this culture, interrogating legitimization and curriculum modification (regarding sustainability subject matter) that they attempted despite ongoing disturbances to these processes. The disturbances and reactions made cultural processes observable to an extent not likely under ordinary circumstances.