Motion 97/98-11 to replace the legislation of June 1981 on group requirements, with the criteria listed, to become effective in fall of 1998
  • Group satisfying courses proposed by departments or individual faculty must be reviewed by both the College of Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee and the University Committee on Courses before submission to the Senate.
  • Group satisfying courses must be numbered at the 100, 200, and 300 levels. Lower division courses must be offered annually, and upper division courses at least biannually. Approved courses must be at least 3 credits each.
  • No more than three courses with the same subject code may be counted by a student as satisfying group requirements.
  • Group satisfying courses in Arts and Letters, Social Science, and Science must meet the following criteria:

    * Group satisfying courses in arts and letters must create meaningful opportunities for students to engage actively in the modes of inquiry that define a discipline. Proposed courses must be demonstrably liberal in nature and broad in scope. Though some courses may focus on specialized subjects or approaches, there must be a substantial course content locating that subject in the broader context of the major issues of the discipline. Qualifying courses will not focus on teaching basic skills but will require the application or engagement of those skills through analysis and interpretation.

    * Group satisfying courses in the social sciences must be liberal in nature rather than professionally oriented or devoted in substantial measure to the performance of professional skills. They must cover a representative cross-section of key issues, perspectives, and modes of analysis employed by scholars working on the subject matter addressed by the course. The subject matter of the course will be relatively broad, e.g. involving more than one issue, place, or time. Courses with an emphasis on methods and skills will satisfy the requirement only if there is also a substantial and coherent theoretical component.

    * Group satisfying courses in the sciences should introduce students to the foundations of one or more scientific disciplines, or provide a scientific perspective on a major problem facing society, or provide an introduction to scientific methods (including the use of mathematics and computers) used within or among disciplines.

    1. In particular:
    * Courses designed primarily for majors are not excluded a priori from group status.
    * Courses in methods or statistical analysis are excluded in the social sciences, but courses in theory construction are acceptable
    * Laboratory courses are not excluded from group-satisfying status in the sciences. * Qualifying courses in arts and letters cannot focus on teaching basic skills, so first year German, for example, could not qualify for group status, but reading Goethe in German might. Passed 13 May 1998
    This file was created during a retrospective examination of Senate records performed by Laura Lorita.

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