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College of Letters and Science Faculty Document No. 646 April 3, 2003 Recommendation of the L&S Course and Curriculum Committee that the L&S Faculty Suspend the Seminar Requirements of the L&S Degree Recommendation: That, in the event that it becomes necessary to suspend or eliminate the Freshman Seminar Program to address the current State budget crisis, the L&S Faculty suspend the seminar requirement of the L&S degree for students who being their university studies in Fall or Spring of the 2003-2004 academic year or later. Rationale: The sizeable deficit in the State's and University's budgets will require significant budget cuts. At the same time, System Administration has indicated that every effort must be made to continue to ensure access for students in the University system. Offering freshman seminars is not the most efficient use of faculty teaching time, if our primary goal is serving as many students as possible with fewer resources. As one means of responding to System's directive to ensure access, the College may find it necessary to suspend or eliminate the Freshman Seminar Program, freeing over 80 faculty each year to teach courses in their departments that allow larger enrollments. Since most students complete their seminar requirement by taking a Freshman Seminar course, suspension of this program will make it nearly impossible for students entering as freshmen in the coming year to complete the seminar requirement. |
