Stanford is thinking about doubling down on the music of Taylor Swift.
The university is planning a course on the musician’s songwriting beginning in the spring semester of 2024. This follows a class that spent an entire semester dissecting Swift’s 2012 song “All Too Well,” which the artist rereleased last year in a 10-minute-long version.
That class, though, was part of the school’s Italic 99 program, which offers different courses each quarter. The latest class would be part of another program and titled “The Last Great American Songwriter: Storytelling With Taylor Swift Through the Eras.”
It’s not set in stone just yet, though.
“Next year’s schedule is still not set to be finalized and published until mid-August, so we cannot say definitively what will or will not be offered yet,” a Stanford spokesperson told Coins2Day. “However, we can confirm that plans for the course are underway.”
The course is part of the university’s Student Initiated Course (SIC) program, which offers a handful of student-taught classes each quarter. Stanford considers these “activity courses,” which allow students to explore areas of interest or enrichment. They are graded as Satisfactory/Non-Satisfactory and do not count toward a student’s GPA.
Ava Jeffs, a member of Stanford’s class of ’26, is leading the effort. The course, she says, will explore the interplay among literary references, lyricism, and storytelling techniques in Swift’s discography.
“I’ve always been very passionate about music, and even wrote my application essay to Stanford about Taylor Swift’s song ‘Clean’ and how it helped me process challenges in my life before coming to Stanford,” said Jeffs. “I’ve been a fan for 16 years, so getting to teach this course is a great opportunity to share her artistry and lyrical genius with fellow students.”
Fellow students, yes. Swifties outside the university system? Not so much.
Assuming the course does appear on the schedule next year, Stanford reminds the public that its courses, including SICs, are not available for auditing by the public.