University of Virginia Library

Issue Killed

Debate over this last issue finally killed the
amendment. As Dean Irby Cauthen noted,
almost a quarter of the University's graduates
have less than a 2.0 average and as Dean of the
College he would not look forward to dealing
with irate parents in June.

Mr. Giffen then reintroduced the first part
of his proposal to have 96 required graded
semester hours which would allow a student to
take any number of pass-fail courses above the
basic level. This amendment was successful.

Donald MacInnis of the Department of
Music introduced the successful amendment to
gave pluses and minuses a value of .3 in
computing averages. Some faculty members
who opposed the motion noted that this
awarding of a numerical coefficient would be a
move away from the concept of a more
gradeless education. Their arguments were of
no avail as the motion passed 109.52.

Finally debate began on the foreign language
requirement after some minor changes with
English I. Frederick Hartt, Chairman of the Art
Department, opened the discussion by asking
whether "the Committee has, in fact, considered
all of the effects of the proposals that it
now places before us?"

Mr. Hartt continued to note the utility of a
language and its extreme relevance in understanding
a foreign culture. The present proposal
would "deprive students of their birthright"
and would "constitute a body blow to the
graduate language study at the University."