Committee unveils draft overhaul of general education

The plan suggests adding two new fundamental studies requirements – one in oral communication and one in analytical reasoning – and proposes significant changes to the distributive studies requirement, adding new categories while cutting down on the total number of courses required. It also suggests eliminating many SAT exemptions and aims to strengthen the diversity requirement.

The rough draft was presented to the Senate Executive Committee last week and received nearly unanimous support. It will be presented to the full University Senate next month for discussion and officials hope to vote on it by the end of the semester.

"We have a great report that's very exciting," said Ira Berlin, chairman of the taskforce. "We expect to get a good vote at the senate and we know the plan will continue to get better."

While the much-hyped ‘I'-Series courses remain, only two of the eight distributive studies courses students take will be required to be ‘I'-Series. Distributive studies courses, which previously fell under categories like SH for Social History and LL for Life Sciences Lab, are divided into four broader categories: natural sciences, history and social sciences, arts humanities and literature and scholarship in practice. Students would be required to take two courses in each category. Right now, students take three in each category.

Of the four categories, the most innovative is scholarship in practice. Courses in this category would require students to take abstract knowledge and create a tangible product, such as computer software, business plans, advertising campaigns and publications.

The draft emphasizes the ‘I'-Series will remain "the signature" of the new general education plan. Aimed at answering real-life, big questions, officials said these courses will challenge students to think innovatively and with imagination. The courses have already begun implementation; they were offered for the first time this semester and will nearly double in the number of course offerings next fall.

Fundamental studies, which currently includes ENGL101, junior English and a basic math course, would be expanded. The theatre, hearing and speech sciences, journalism and communications departments could offer courses fulfilling a new oral communication requirement. Statistics courses or PHIL170: Introduction to Logic could be used to fill a proposed analytical reasoning requirement.

A major change to fundamental studies is the elimination of exemptions for ENGL101 and junior English. Currently, incoming students with AP credit or a high enough SAT score are exempt from ENGL101, and students who receive an ‘A' in ENGL101 are exempt from junior English. The committee proposes eliminating these exemptions. Similarly, the committee suggests eliminating an exemption from the math requirement for students who score above a 600 on their math SAT.

The diversity requirement for students will be redefined and expanded into two categories: Understanding Pluralities in Society (UPS) and Cultural Competency (CC).

Under the new plan, students may choose to take two UPS courses or one UPS and one CC course.

UPS courses are designed to expose students to the foundations of human difference and the functions of plural societies. The cultural competency courses enable students to establish, "effective interpersonal and working relationships that supersede cultural differences," according to the plan.

The draft plan is the product of a year's work by the committee, which is chaired by history professor Ira Berlin. The university's strategic plan, which passed in 2007, contained a draft of a general education program, but opposition by faculty members led to the creation of the task force. Provost Nariman Farvardin delayed creating the committee for a full semester while he convinced Berlin to chair it.