S. 16-2 A Resolution to Change the Graduation Requirements for the Undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences
WHEREAS Tufts University’s Undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) is a liberal arts institution;
WHEREAS the Tufts A&S mission statement states, “The foundation of a Tufts liberal arts education rests on the ability to creatively tackle problems in a number of fields, communicate effectively in small classroom discussion and in writing, and understand the world from a global perspective”;[1]
WHEREAS A&S students must fulfill the distribution and foundation requirements to graduate from Tufts University;[2]
WHEREAS these requirements include the first-year writing requirement, the foreign language requirement, the world civilization requirement, and the distribution requirements including two classes in each of the five areas of: humanities, arts, social sciences, natural sciences, and mathematical sciences;[3]
WHEREAS the 2015-2016 A&S Strategic Plan states, “it has been decades since the faculty has undertaken a comprehensive review of our undergraduate requirements. Our recent accreditation review and the increasingly stronger skills and abilities of our incoming students present challenges to our current requirement structure. Together with the Educational Policy Committee (EPC), we endorse a faculty-led comprehensive examination of the foundation and distribution requirements”;[4]
WHEREAS Tufts University is implementing a new accreditation system to “change the requirements for graduation so that they conform to federal requirements,” so as to assign credit “to courses in a way that reflects the amount of learning time that the course requires, and that number is both inside and outside the classroom”;[5]
WHEREAS Tufts University is required to completely review the credit accounting system for its undergraduate students by Fall of the 2018-2019 academic year;[6]
WHEREAS the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate conducted a poll of A&S students asking their opinions about the distribution requirements, in which 86% of students surveyed said that there are “too many” or “many” graduation requirements;[7] therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED that the TCU Senate urges the Undergraduate College of A&S to change the graduation requirements for its students by the Fall Term of the 2018-2019 academic year to reflect student feedback;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Tufts University reviews the graduation requirements for the College of Engineering by Fall 2018.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the EPC work in conjunction with the TCU Senate to formally discuss proposals for A&S graduation requirements currently including the first-year writing requirement, the foreign language requirement, the world civilization requirement, and the distribution requirements;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the EPC create a diverse taskforce comprised of students and faculty that would further discuss these proposals and would be charged with overhauling the graduation requirements;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a committee composed of students and faculty review graduation requirements at least once every 4 years;
Respectfully submitted by Rati Srinivasan, A18, Chris Leaverton, A19, and Nesi Altaras, A19 on February 21, 2016
Passes 26-2-2
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[6]Email from EPC Chairperson Anne Mahoney on 2/13/16
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