University of Virginia Library

Curriculum Changes
Proposed By Council

In a meeting last Tuesday described by
both Faculty and student participants as
"very friendly," the Student Council met
with the Faculty Curriculum Committee
and the Faculty Committee on Educational
Policy to respond to the Curriculum
Committee's October 23 report
recommending specific curricular reform.

"I think we had a pretty good
interchange of ideas," said Kevin Mannix,
a Student Council representative. "We
presented a pretty detailed report and
they showed a willingness to look at the
many suggestions we made."

"It was a very friendly meeting,"
agreed Alexander Sedgwick, a History
professor and member of the Faculty
Curriculum Committee. "The Student
Council presented many fine suggestions
that the Committee will seriously consider
when it designs a final plan for presentation
to the Faculty." Mr. Sedgwick pointed to
November 19 as a tentative date for the
presentation of the final report.

Suggested changes in the report are:

1. The section relating to pass-fail courses
should allow eight (8) semester courses rather
than the recommended four. There should be
no limit as to how many pass-fail courses could
be elected per semester. Departments should
not be allowed to exclude any course from the
pass-fail semester. Fully agreeing that the
pass-fail option is a great improvement we feel
that enough flexibility should be allowed to let
the students and the system prove themselves.
We also recommend, therefore, that the
provision that "The pass-fail option may not be-elected
for the courses offered in the major
program or those counted in the University
Major or Interdisciplinary Major programs.
Beyond the courses required for the major,
however, a student may elect to register for
other courses in his major department on a
pass-fail basis," be deleted. All the restrictions
on the pass-fail option imply that it is a
second-class educational policy. If the pass-fail
option is important educationally it should be
allowed to stand on its own merits.

2. A student scoring 700 on his achievement
test in a foreign language should be exempted
from further language requirements even if he
has no high school training. A student who has
scored "550 on his achievement test ... will be
required to take only one additional semester
of that language at level six or higher." If a
student is unable to do satisfactory work at
level six he will be required to take more than
one semester.

3. The "Foreign Culture" requirement
should be lowered to 12 hours and "No more
than six of the twelve hours elected to meet
this requirement shall be in the field of the
major subject. Courses applied to the foreign
culture requirement may not also be applied to
the major requirement." Language departments
should be encouraged to teach more foreign
literature courses in English.

4. A new course should be instituted and
students allowed to meet their science requirements
by taking an inter-departmental course
"Science Survey." Such a course, alternating
each semester between "Physics, Chemistry,
and Mathematics" and "Astronomy, Biology
and Environmental Sciences" might be patterned
after Harvard's course in the General
Studies Program. It would be designed to
present a non-specialized introduction to
scientific disciplines.

5. A new course should be instituted and
students allowed to meet their social studies
requirements by taking an inter-disciplinary
course in the social sciences. This course would
examine broad themes (such as racism,
violence, conformity, aggression, nationalism)
from the perspectives of, and promote dialogue
among, the various social science disciplines.

6. Referring to the University Major, the
report now reads: "Such a program will include
no fewer than six additional semester-hours
from each of the three area groups above and
the completion of a one-semester foreign
language course on the level of Course 35 or its
equivalent." This sentence should be stricken.
If we truly seek to provide an academically
respectable University Major which will attract
students seeking a general liberal arts education
we should not enforce more restrictive
requirements thereby discouraging students
from claiming the University Major.

7. Under "Electives" the section should
read, "The remaining courses needed to make
up the required 120 semester hours for the
degree may be elected from courses offered in
the College for which a student is eligible. A
degree program may also include elective
courses from other schools in the University.
The Dean of the College must approve any
degree program which includes more than 15
semester-hours of elective courses from other
schools in the University.

"The Departments of Air Science, Military
Science, and Naval Science will be considered
non-academic affiliate departments similar to
physical education. There shall be no academic
credit for courses offered by the Departments
of Air, Military or Naval Sciences unless they
are approved by and offered under a department
in the College of Arts and Sciences."

9. Under "Degree Examinations in Major
Department," an addition should be "If a
student has a GPA of 3.0 or above in the major
field, he may elect not to take a departmental
comprehensive exam or essay."

In addition to the above specific
proposals, Council made several general recommendations:

1. The College of Arts and Sciences should
be willing to waive specific High School
academic course requirements if the student is
capable and otherwise qualified. For example, a
well-qualified student with no foreign language
in high school should be allowed to enroll with
the stipulation and understanding that he
complete the foreign culture language courses
to the level of Course 6 before graduation.

2. If 'remedial' courses are implemented for
qualified students admitted to the University
despite insufficient or inadequate high school
preparation, such 'remedial' courses will receive
full academic credit.

3. The faculty should implement the Black
Studies proposals of the Black Students for
Freedom as soon as possible - no later than the
fall of 1970.

4. We strongly support the much-discussed
4-1-4 program and trust that part of the
curriculum committee's final report will give
careful consideration to this program and other
methods of reducing the number of courses.
More can be learned by concentrating on fewer
courses in greater breadth and depth than the
current smorgasbord approach allows.

5. Each department should be encouraged to
offer more seminars for first through fourth
yearmen. We especially recommend permanent
authorization for the first-year seminars.

6. While seminars provide increased opportunity
for dialogue and genuine wrestling
with issues, an informal unstructured atmosphere
and continuing contact are even more
conducive to learning. We reiterate our
enthusiastic support for a residential college
system and suggest that it should be considered
as an integral part of curriculum revision.

7. Variations in work-load and scheduling
require some students to take up to 18 credits
or attend summer school and thereby accumulate
more credits than required for graduation.
To promote increased flexibility in scheduling
we suggest that a student be considered a
full-time student as long as he is registered for
at least 9 credits and is maintaining an average
of 15 semester hours per semester at the
University.