terms of Federal Work-Study Program money spent of community service. As president of the college, Tori Haring-Smith has specifically criticized the U.S. News & World Report rankings system, noting that the "financial resources" portion of the rankings formula favors colleges that have higher tuition, even without providing any educational benefits, saying that this has harmed the college's ranking because it charged $5,000 to $7,000 less in tuition that its peer institutions. She also questioned the "peer assessment" portion of the rankings and suggested that college presidents are rarely aware of educational improvements in their peer institutions; she noted that Washington & Jefferson College's ranking has remained the same for a number of years, even while the college made significant improvements in terms of its acceptance rates and overall selectivity, the addition of academic programs, and the construction of additional buildings. Haring-Smith's criticism of the rankings spurred Bob Morse, the founder of the U.S. College Rankings system to respond to the criticisms directly in an article. She has signed the "Presidents Letter," a nationwide movement asking fellow college presidents to decline participation in the U.S. News & World Report reputation survey, a subjective evaluation where college administrators score their competition. Curriculum The curriculum is centered on the traditional liberal arts education and pre-professional classes. All first-semester freshmen must complete the "First Year Seminar" class, which introduces new students to a variety of lectures, concerts, plays, and trips to museums or galleries based on a different course theme selected each year. In addition to completing an academic major, students must satisfy the college-wide general education requirements, which include classes in the arts, humanities, natural sciences and mathematics, foreign languages, cultural diversity, and academic skills classes including writing, oral communication, quantitative reasoning. Students may choose to complete an academic minor, participate in interdepartmental concentrations, or to focus on an intra-departmental emphasis. Additionally, all students must complete a physical education requirement, amounting to one full semester class, making W&J one of the few liberal arts colleges without a physical education major to have such a requirement. The college maintains a number of combined degree programs, allowing students to attend graduate or professional school in lieu of senior year. The college follows the 4–1–4 academic calendar, which includes a four-month fall term, a three-week Intersession term in January, followed by a four-month spring term. During the Intersession term, students have the choice of studying abroad,