Faculty Considers Changes to Curriculum

The assembly room of Wilson Library was filled with faculty from many University departments, all eager to share their thoughts on the proposal.

The forum focused on two new options for students seeking bachelor's of arts degrees in the College of Arts and Sciences and the three goals of the general education curriculum.

Under the proposed curriculum changes, students working toward bachelor's degrees would have to take nine hours of course work instead of 12 outside their major.

To fill the nine hours, students can use a distributive option that requires students to take three non-introductory courses, one in each of the three divisions of the College of Arts and Sciences outside the student's field of study.

Another option is a cluster program that would combine nine credit hours of courses with a common theme across different disciplines.

"The goal is to help students see how parts of education come together as a whole," said Laurie McNeil, chairwoman of the Curriculum Revision Steering Committee.

Several faculty members questioned the process of choosing which courses can be clustered, and some feared students would attempt to create clusters that are not entirely related.

But McNeil said students would have to petition a board to create a cluster.

Beth Grabowski, a professor in the Department of Art, said that it would be interesting to collaborate with professors from other disciplines but that the program will require a lot of time, energy and money to be implemented effectively.

Faculty members also mentioned problems that could arise because of prerequisites, the frequency that certain courses are offered and sufficient enrollment in cluster classes.

Another proposed change to the curriculum is the reduction of the general education component of a bachelor's of arts degree by three hours to 42 hours.

Faculty repeatedly questioned the experiential education component of the proposal, which would require students to engage in an activity outside of class.

Options include study abroad, internships and service learning. Many professors were concerned that undergraduate research isn't an option.

An unofficial vote was taken to get a sense of the faculty sentiment, and an overwhelming majority of the people voted in favor of including undergraduate research in the experiential education component.

Faculty members also discussed the proposed elimination of the swim test and two physical education requirements, but no consensus was met.

The forum concluded with another unofficial vote. Thirty-eight faculty members voted in favor of sending the proposal to the Subcommittee on General Education and the Educational Policy Committee of the College of Arts and Sciences. Twenty-two faculty members opposed this action.

Grabowski said implementation is the key element. "It will be interesting to see if the proposal will play out as they anticipate," she said.

Students will be able to voice their concerns in a forum at 6 p.m. Oct. 15 in Union 212.

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.