University of Virginia Library

Six Hour Requirement

Faculty Approves Area Courses

By Bill Fryer
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

The Area Requirements - Natural
Science and Mathematics, Social Sciences,
and Humanities - Recommended by the
Curriculum Committee were approved
yesterday by the College Faculty in their
fifth special session. Six semester hours
will be required of students in each area.

Before the vote, the faculty failed to
approve an amendment by Charles
Greene of the Sociology Department
which would have removed all area
requirements including the language requirement
which was inserted in the
proposed curriculum at Wednesday's
session.

'Humanizing Effect'

In the opening of discussion to further
'perfect' the language of the report, Mr.
Greene introduced his motion to abolish
Area Requirements. Noting that the only
persuasive argument put forward by
proponents of a language requirement in
Wednesday's debate was that in some way
language had "a kind of humanizing effect on
students", Mr. Greene then cited evidence
gathered in a study in which he was involved
dealing with the selection of Peace Corps
volunteers.

He revealed that the volunteers who were
successful in their later Peace Corps service
usually were from undergraduate institutions of
a certain nature

Close Contact

Small classes with close contact, opportunities
for independent studies, and the exposure
to difficult moral decisions were the rule rather
than the exception. He argued that the process
of education was the important area for study,
and not the quibbling about which subject
matter was to be required.

In protest, Samuel Goldstein of the
Astronomy Department rose to predict that "if
we do away with all of the requirements, the
poorest of our students will consume a lot more
of our time." Arnold Del Greco of the
Department of Romance Languages stated that
the motion was tantamount to anarchy.

R. Bruce Martin of the Chemistry Department
denied anarchy and noted that the
motion would put the decision making process
in the hands of the individual departments.

Samuel Berner of the History Department
observed that the way the curriculum was
evolving the faculty ought to decide if the
"notion of coercion" had a rightful place in the
proposals. The motion was overwhelmingly
defeated after a debate limited to ten minutes,
Several motions were then put on the
floor to overturn the Committee's suggestions
about the Natural Science and Mathematics
requirement. Marvin Rosenblum, a Professor of
Mathematics, spoke for raising the Mathematics-Science
requirement to 8 semester hours
observing that most students will take about 9
hours of language if the whole curriculum is
approved. "Inflation is here" stated Mr.
Rosenblum in referring to the successful efforts
of the language departments to "pound" their
requirements into reality.

Arthur Schulman of the Psychology Department
attempted to limit debate on the motion
since debate was limited on Mr. Greene's
amendment which he felt was much more
fundamental to the curriculum. After the
faculty refused, Mr. Schulman commented that
"if anybody thinks what we have been doing
here the last few days is perfecting the report,
they are sadly mistaken."

Alfred Fernback of the Government Department
stated that in this day and age all
University students should have a laboratory
science required considering the impact science
has upon us. David Flaherty of the History
Department countered this argument by stating
that a requirement of this kind would "gut
curriculum reform." The motions were defeated
and the Committee's six hour proposal
for all three areas approved at least temporarily.

Frederick Hartt of the Art Department led a
successful move to have the Committee on the
Educational Policy and the Budget study
various possibilities of incorporating a foreign
culture requirement.

The faculty then adjourned until their
meeting now scheduled for December 10 and, if
necessary, December 11. The controversial
ROTC debate with at least five motions in
preparation is now in the near future. Dean of
the Faculty David Shannon anticipates the
physical education recommendation to be the
first order of business next Wednesday.