Faculty approves new requirements
Date 3/29/2001 12:00 AM | Topic: NewsAfter months of questions, debates and amendments, the faculty adopted a new set of general education requirements at a meeting on March 14.
The proposal was approved by an 86-40 vote.
"I am delighted," said William Craft, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college.
"The proposal was accepted by more than two-thirds of the faculty, but there was enough opposition to show that we still have things to think about and things to work out," Craft said. "I think it is a healthy split."
The changes in the general education requirements will not affect current students but the Academic Planning Committee intends to implement the new requirements beginning this fall with the incoming first-year students.
The new general education requirements differ from the old requirements in several ways.
First, the changes require students to take a course in quantitative or symbolic reasoning. Courses that would fulfill this requirement include Computer Science 28, Math 14 or above, Philosophy 22, and Sociology 50.
The requirement recognizes that mathematics is not the only area in which questions of symbolic reasoning arise, said Craft.
Second, students will need to take two classes in the natural sciences, one of which must be a lab course.
"The work that scientists do and the decisions they make affect all of us profoundly," Craft said. "Health, medicine, environmental policy, agriculture are things we have a substantial stake in responsible citizens and all are related to science."
Third, each student will have to take a class that fulfills the new global studies requirement. According to proposal adopted by the faculty, classes that meet this requirement will seek critical views outside of the United States.
Craft feels that the global studies requirement will help students "see the world through the eyes of other human beings that don't start with the same assumptions we do."
Fourth, students must complete a writing course within their major.
Fifth, one of the two physical education credits must be a credit of wellness. This requirement could be met by completing one wellness course and one fitness course or two classes that combine elements of both.
In addition, some other changes include making history classes available to meet the social sciences requirement and changing the name of Paideia II to Paideia Capstone.
The religion/philosophy, fine arts, Paideia, and modern language requirements remain relatively unchanged.
"The most significant feature of the new requirements is that it establishes the guideline that courses will be included in general education based on the content and not the department of origin," said Craft. "It promises for more innovation, imagination and creation as we commit ourselves collectively to thinking about the goals of general education."
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Ryan Brown
Chips News Co-Editor
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