The Academic Senate voted 31-7 Tuesday to rescind the

DeJong Amendment, which was approved at the Nov. 4 meeting.

Assistant engineering and technology professor Brian DeJong introduced an amendment to the Hartshorne/Stecker Plan to revise general education.

One of the main purposes of his amendment was to reinstate caps, which were eliminated in the Hartshorne/Stecker Amendment.

Political science professor Joyce Baugh said caps will force departments that teach global cultural courses to choose which ones to include in the University Program.

“I really feel that caps will do irreparable damage to what is currently 4B, which will become 4A,” she said. “We cannot have a program that restricts the areas of the world people are going to study.”

The current group 4B is Studies in Global Culture.

One of the main points of debate about general education is whether to reduce the number of courses included in the University Program. There are currently more than 200 courses included in the UP. Some senators have suggested reducing the number to 100.

Another concern is that courses not included in the UP will not be able to generate enough student enrollment.

Assistant history professor Solomon Getahun said one of the courses he teaches would likely fall into that category.

“Right now, I can tell you if the course I’m teaching, African history, is not part of the UP, no one will take it,” he said. “Students are not familiar and not comfortable with taking something strange and different.”

DeJong disagreed and said limiting the number of courses in the UP would not have a negative impact on students or the program.

“Caps do not restrict course offerings; they do restrict how many courses will be counted towards the UP,” DeJong said. “We are currently offering a full selection of courses, but students aren’t taking the full selection.”

The Senate will continue the general education debate at its next meeting, going back to the original Hartshorne/Stecker amendment.

Cultural competency

Senators also approved the Recognition of Cultural Competency program.

The program is a way for students to receive recognition on their degree as having met the standards for achieving cultural competency.

“This is not specifically a minor because we wanted it to be something that all of our students across multiple disciplines could take advantage of,” said Associate Vice President of Institutional Diversity Denise Green.

She said many students come from racially segregated neighborhoods.

“It really behooves us as a public institution to make sure our students begin to gain cultural competency and leave here beginning to tap these skills,” she said.

There was significant debate on the impact of one of the requirements on foreign language students and what courses they could take and count toward the program.

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