Faculty debate curriculum review
Date 2/22/2001 12:00 AM | Topic: NewsLuther College faculty met to continue debating changes to the college's general education requirements on Thursday, Feb. 15 in a special session called by President Torgerson.
At the meeting, faculty defeated proposed changes to the religion/philosophy requirement. Other changes brought before the faculty, like the addition of a global studies requirement, have been approved at previous meetings, but there are more changes to be discussed.
Due to an amendment by John Sieber, professor emeritus of religion, none of the changes have been enacted yet. The amendment states that after the faculty have voted on the individual parts of the package, they must vote again on the package as a whole.
Changes could be implemented as early as next fall. Any changes in the general education requirements would only affect incoming students.
"Even if the package fails, many would feel it was time well spent reviewing our mission and values," said Mark Muggli, associate dean.
The proposed changes have come before the faculty with recommendations from the Academic Planning Committee (APC). The committee is chaired by Richard Bernatz, associate professor of mathematics, and made up of eight other faculty from various departments. There are no student representatives on the APC.
"Every college reviews their general curriculum," said Muggli. "The curriculum is not deeply flawed but needed revising."
According to Muggli, who also serves on the committee as an ex officio member, the APC took pieces from a previous plan assembled by a curriculum review task force.
The job of the task force was to assess and review the general education requirement and propose a new model. Faculty defeated that model in 1999 by only two votes.
The APC based their recommendations on parts of the previous plan that had the most support and presented a new package to the faculty in April 2000, said Muggli.
The last time faculty reviewed the general education requirements was in 1976.
"General education requirements are so essential to a liberal arts college," said Muggli. "It was important to get new faculty to engage in this conversation."
During the meeting, some faculty expressed concerns about the rise in the number of double and triple majors, especially in related fields, and whether multiple majors reflect the true nature of a liberal arts education.
"Having one major has given me more freedom. I get to take a variety of classes," said Ben Werling ('01), biology major with an environmental studies minor. "My time is not consumed by requirements and I get to sleep more."
Phil Assmus ('01), mathematics, physics, and computer science triple major, feels satisfied with the diversity of classes he has taken at Luther.
"The general education requirements are there for a reason. I chose Luther because it would force me to take classes outside of my majors," said Assmus.
No date has been set for the final passage of the proposed requirement changes. The faculty met Wednesday, Feb. 21 to continue discussion on the changes.
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Ryan Brown
Chips News Co-Editor
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