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Revised
CUE draft presented A revised Common Undergraduate Experience draft was presented Thursday by the Executive Committee to the Faculty Senate in what the document’s framers called a major step toward reaching a consensus among faculty. “We just took a big step I think today,” said George Brown, chairman-elect of the Faculty Senate, after Thursday’s meeting. The CUE is a major redesign of the university’s core curriculum that has been underway for more than a year. The revised document increases the original’s total hours from 45 to 48; eliminates the Ethical Thought and Action rubric and replaces it with other ethics requirements; changes the language and eliminates some outcomes of all requirements; explicitly requires three hours of religion and six in the humanities to be acquired by two different disciplines. The draft, like the original, requires three hours of writing but could change depending upon input from the English Department. Brown said the Executive Committee drafted the proposal from e-mails sent to members and comments from a Faculty Assembly Jan. 30. He said the revision was made in an effort “to at least find a document that we can begin discussions on.” The proposal was not free of criticism. “It seems like we are implicitly assuming the CUE document is something we want to go with as opposed to something like the old core with modifications,” said accounting professor Donald Nichols. “It doesn’t seem like we give equal opportunity for (discussing) the old core vs. the CUE. “I think we are automatically saying this is what we want if we go down this line. I don’t think I want the new one at this point.” Other professors questioned how the CUE’s outcomes would be assessed, saying the document did nothing to address that. But geology professor Nowell Donovan said developing an assessment plan is the next step after agreeing on the core. Brown said the faculty was charged with creating basic outcomes and criteria for the new core, and an assessment plan will be designed by the Assessment Office and departments. Carolyn Spence Cagle, chairwoman of Faculty Senate, said fears of not being able to assess outcomes should not impede approval. “If we are really dedicated to these outcomes, we will figure out how to assess them,” Cagle said. Executive Committee members called the draft a major and positive change to the CUE, but some professors said the proposal looks more like the University Curriculum Requirements with outcomes added on. “What is it about this particular document, and I thought this about the previous one, that is innovative?” philosophy professor Gregg Franzwa said. “It looks a lot like the present core. We have come down a fairly long road, and it is curving back around, it seems.” Brown said the CUE provides more chances for faculty to develop interdisciplinary courses. “The thing that this document does, in the general sense of the word, is liberate the faculty to be innovative and create creative courses,” Brown said. Before the draft was presented, Chancellor Michael Ferrari outlined the document’s path through the five previous committees that worked on it and answered criticism that the process has been rushed and not open to faculty input. “In short the current examination of the undergraduate core has not been a precipitous action of the past month or so,” Ferrari said. Brandon
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