University of Virginia Library

Faculty Begins
Curriculum Debate

By Bill Fryer
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

At a special meeting of the faculty of
the College the various sections of the
Curriculum Committee's final report will
begin to be debated upon. The faculty
will first continue to discuss the general
merits of the proposals as a whole.

What was termed by David A.
Shannon, the Dean of the Faculty, as the
"most important matter" which would be
considered by the faculty this year, the
proposed curriculum was introduced at
the faculty meeting last Tuesday afternoon.

John Moore of the Economics Department
and Chairman of the Curriculum
Committee in introducing the proposals
noted that there were many compromises
in the report, but that the new
curriculum would allow students much
more discretion in planning their academic
course of study at the University.

Packed with Compromises

The opposition to the report was
typified by Aron J. Hale's quip that the
proposals were so packed with compromises
that it rather reminded him of the
task to create a horse. What was produced
was a zebra made by a committee.

Discussion will continue on the
general philosophy of the report at the
four o'clock meeting today in Wilson Hall
Auditorium. After that, an informal
debate aimed at perfecting the language
of the individual sections of the new
curriculum proposals will begin. The
debate on the general philosophy has
already lasted for more than an hour, so
it is not unreasonable to speculate that
debate on the individual sections of the
report will take considerable time. The
faculty is under some pressure to act on
the whole curriculum by December 3 so
the changes may be included in the new
edition of the College Catalogue.

Physical Education

The faculty will consider the removal
of the requirement for physical education;
the lowering of the requirement for
foreign language and the alternative of
taking six hours of "foreign culture"; the
creation of a University Major so that the
students can study a general area not
necessarily covered by a regular departmental
major.

Also scheduled on the agenda is
discussion about the proposed pass-fail
system and a liberalization of the science,
humanities, and social sciences requirements.

Perhaps the most controversial part of
the proposed curriculum is the section
concerning Reserved Officer Training
Corps or ROTC. The report calls for the
same rewarding of twelve hours of degree
credit for ROTC students, but suggests
the formation of a committee to study
the possibilities of removing degree credit
for ROTC courses.

There have been reliable indications
that a proposal from the floor may call
for the total dropping of degree credit
and perhaps academic credit for ROTC.
As the agenda stands now, the ROTC
debate will be one of the last sections of
the proposed curriculum to be considered.