The Faculty Senate questioned the effectiveness of the Civic, Liberal, and Global Education Requirement (COLLEGE), a first-year general education course, raising concerns about the curriculum’s effects and approach in the classroom during their Thursday meeting.
The Committee on Undergraduate Standards and Policy (C-USP) presented on the COLLEGE program, emphasizing its mission to encourage civic engagement over controversial topics. The Committee reported an overall 4.6 rating of the course across all three quarters, which they collected via student surveys. The surveys also found that only 19% of students sometimes felt uncomfortable to share their views, according to the Committee.
“Much of the issues that plagued this university got worse in the time of this program,” Jonathan Berk, a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, said. “There was a lot of talk of students who felt that it’s okay to shut other students down … there’s pretty widespread support amongst the student body for [such] behavior.”
Berk argued that this tendency should not be solely attributed to external changes.
Developmental Biology Professor Margaret Fuller said that COLLEGE should take on a more practical approach, as hands-on problem solving “is something special at Stanford and useful for people to get exposed early.” She recommended methods used at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, an institute at the University that teaches practical problem solving.
Debra Satz, Dean of the School of Humanities & Sciences, said the expectations surrounding COLLEGE should be reasonable.
“I just don’t think tomorrow we’re going to build peace because of COLLEGE, and that’s okay,” Satz said. “There may be some level of discomfort we have to get comfortable with because [the program] is intended to be evolving.”
The COLLEGE program is currently undergoing significant self-assessment at the end of a pilot phase. C-USP will return to the Senate floor in the spring with recommendations based on the results of the assessment.
During the meeting, the Senate also voted to change the admissions policy for non-matriculated (post-bacc) graduate study, a program that allows students who have completed their bachelor’s degrees to enroll in classes without seeking a degree.
The new policy provides a three-year exception that allows student-athletes to pursue post-bacc study while competing under NCAA rules, according to information released by the Stanford Report. Currently, the decentralized admissions process across departments creates inconsistency and disincentivizes student applicants, the Report said.
Jay Mitchell, Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR), presented the changes. Under the new policy, there will be “considerable attention [paid] to the academic experience … and the relationship building and faculty engagement with these students,” Mitchell said.