Michael Chamberlain
Staff Writer
The Faculty Senate voted unanimously Wednesday in support of a resolution against the transfer of core classes by category.
Under new guidelines set by the state legislature, students could be allowed category to category transfers of classes to meet the core curriculum requirements of the school to which they transfer.
Senate Bill 148 requires all state universities and colleges in Texas, including community colleges, to adopt a fully-transferable 42-hour core curriculum.
UH currently has a 56-hour core. According to the policy, transferring students would be able to transfer the core curriculum between any Texas universities or community colleges without losing hours.
The bill, which could be a god-send for transfer students, is causing some faculty members to squirm.
Many worry that the bill will lower the quality of core education at the University of Houston and other four-year universities by putting them on par with community colleges.
At a conference held at UH on the topic in February, Tom Glover of the School of Technology asked, "What happens if a student takes a course that is less difficult at another school and enters our program less prepared? Are you saying that we have to accept their cores even if they do not include what we require at our school?"
The Faculty Senate hopes to keep some independence within the core by not allowing individual components of a core curriculum to transfer in the same way.
Under the provision, for example, if Houston Community College required only six hours to fulfill the English requirement and UH required nine, UH would be forced to accept the six completed hours as fulfilling the requirement.
Thus, UH would be faced with an anomaly not even allowed in new math.
A three credit-hour class, plus another three credit class from another school would add up to meeting a nine-credit category requirement at UH.