Plans would expand choices

Ambitious students might have an opportunity to stack more on their plates in coming years.

Undergraduates will be able to pursue three areas of study if the Faculty Council approves a policy proposed Friday at its last meeting of the school year.

The policy includes a limit of two majors, but undergraduates could declare two majors and one minor or one major and two minors.

The current policy limits students to two majors or one major and one minor.

“Students want the possibility to have more majors and minors,” said Peter Gordon, chairman of the education policy committee of the Faculty Council.

“This recognizes a frequent student goal.”

Members of the committee, which proposed the policy at the meeting, noted that advising deans said students long have asked for the ability to expand their areas of study.

About 2,500 undergraduates are double majors, according to a report issued this semester by the Office of the University Registrar.

Many students major in both a liberal arts field and a professional field.

“This is an issue that we’ve kicked around for over a year,” Gordon said.

“We actually made this conclusion last year.”

Gordon said that some faculty members think students should not pursue multiple majors but that increasing student demand put the issue on the table.

“There is a sense in the faculty that students have wanted to have more and more majors because they think it’s a way of building credentials,” he said. “But the faculty doesn’t think that is a way to actually build credentials. We admire ambition, but we just don’t think that that’s the way to demonstrate accomplishments.”

Gordon said it would be better for students to study one subject in-depth instead of pursuing multiple degrees — which is why the committee set a limit of two majors.

“The faculty in general believes that if a student is accomplished enough to get three majors, then they would be better served by working more intensely in one of their majors,” Gordon said.

“We don’t think that pursuing three majors is educationally good.”

The possibility of triple majors could also affect class registration, Gordon said.

“If students declare a major, they get some priority in course registration,” he said. “You could imagine that some students would declare a major just to get priority in class registration.”

Students said they should have more opportunities to declare majors but that such rigorous course loads could affect their time as college students.

“It might be good to have added flexibility,” said junior Jenny Le, a business and communications double major.

“But in terms of really balancing student life with activities and extracurriculars, it might not be feasible.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.