Ingrid Allstrom
editor in chief
The Undergraduate Council proposed a plan for bringing the University of Houston core into line with new state requirements in its meeting Wednesday and, in a quick but dramatic vote, agreed unanimously to recommend against the proposed Faculty Senate restructuring.
UH has a 56-hour core but by fall '98, state colleges and universities must have a fully-transferable 42-hour minimum core. A school with a larger core requirement would still have to accept a transfer student's core, whether or not it was comparable.
They proposed a 42-hour core that would meet the requirement, but the it must be reconciled with the proposals of a task-force that is also working on the core.
The proposed core eliminates physical education requirements, but perhaps the most controversial part of the proposal is the "communications" requirements, which would replace the English courses. Students would still be required to take six hours of freshman English, but instead of the two courses of sophomore English required now, students would take three hours of a "composition course emphasizing writing in one's discipline, a literature course with an intensive writing component, a speech course or a foreign language." Even an introductory language course would suffice.
"We want students to write in English," said council member Luces Faulkenberry.
The state will allow the use of a foreign language to be applied, even though lower-level courses have little or no writing. Some members said that not allowing the language course to fulfill the requirement would encourage more students to go to community colleges for their core requirements.
Council member Rosalie Maddocks disagreed. "We want to attract better students."
Others thought that UH should solicit the help of other four-year universities.
"Junior colleges and community colleges are the ones who got this passed," said council chair Sam Quintero. "They're the ones who slam-dunked it on us."
Under the plan there would be three hours of "visual or performing arts," three of "humanities" and three of "social sciences."
With a mandate to "keep it positive," Quintero opened discussion on the proposed Faculty Senate restructuring, under which the council would report to the Senate. The two bodies are now separate, and the council reports to the provost.
There was little discussion, though many were concerned that the elimination of positions would reduce the representation in favor of efficiency. But in the end the council agreed that there are too many important issues facing the university for the faculty to become absorbed with its own governance structure.
"This is not the time to restructure ... the governance system," Maddocks said.
She suggested recommending to the president and provost postponement of the restructuring at the least because the current structure can be improved, and with issues such as the new core curriculum and others, the Senate should focus on these issues. The motion passed unanimously.