Stanford to Offer Course on Taylor Swift: ‘The Last Great American Songwriter’

A new course at Stanford has students clamoring to write their names in the blank space on enrollment forms.

A class titled “The Last Great American Songwriter: Storytelling with Taylor Swift Through the Eras” has at least one student expecting a “fight to the death” to enroll when it is offered in the spring, Stanford student Oriana Riley told The Mercury News.

The course was designed by rising Stanford sophomore Ava Jeffs as part of the school’s Student Initiated Course program. It will be the second Swift-inspired course to be taught at the university. Earlier this year, a course titled “All Too Well (Ten Week Version)” was offered, allowing students to dive into the singer’s 10-minute version of her song “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version).”

“There are a handful of Student Initiated Courses offered per quarter,” Stanford spokesperson Luisa Rapport told the news outlet in an email. “Student Initiated Courses are considered ‘activity courses,’ and allow students to explore areas of interest or enrichment.”

Unlike traditional classes offered at the university, students are graded as either “satisfactory” or “non-satisfactory” and these grades don’t impact their GPAs.

Jeffs, a computer science major, told The Mercury News she is a lifelong “Swiftie” and was inspired to create the course from her love of the musician.

“The whole goal of the class is to dive into the art of songwriting, exploring the interplay between literary references and lyricism and storytelling in Taylor Swift’s entire discography, taking it one album at a time and trying to look at the evolution of using songwriting as a narrative form,” Jeffs said. “It will draw parallels to classic works of literature and poetry in each album and gain a deeper understanding of the narrative power of music.”

She created the course by first drafting a syllabus and asking professors in the English department to sponsor the course. Professor Mark McGurl will be overseeing the course to ensure academic integrity and grading, while Jeffs handles the curriculum.

Jeffs' TikTok account has been documenting both her fandom for Swift, as well as her plans to teach the course.