Our current General Requirement is more than a decade old. Although we provide an excellent education and although there is much that is positive about our General Requirement, there are also weaknesses. The General Requirement is hard for students and faculty to understand and explain. It is bloated with over 300 courses. It comprises nearly one-third of each student's undergraduate program.
Choices made by many students appear to be far less than optimal.
Rather than excitement about what they are learning, students report attempts to find the easiest way through the General Requirement. So it is a good time to take another look, and that is what CUE was asked to do this past year. We have a new dean, a new strategic plan with a special emphasis on undergraduate education, a new Provost with a keen interest in undergraduate education, and boards of Trustees and Overseers who look to SAS for leadership in undergraduate education. Resources for the School will certainly depend on our exercising that leadership. That is natural since the problems are difficult and since there is no best solution.