By Arj Arjunan
Daily Bruin Contributor
Members of the Undergraduate Students Association Council said
the General Education Governance Committee’s proposed
modifications to GE requirements were made without adequate student
input ““ an input that would have strongly supported adding a
diversity component.
Council members hope to increase undergraduate students’
exposure to courses that study issues of race, ethnicity and
gender, a viewpoint members felt was ignored in the formulation of
GE modifications.
Academic Affairs Commissioner Bryant Tan presented a report at
Tuesday’s USAC meeting that recounted a meeting with David
Rodes, chair of the GE Governance Committee.
Rodes said students have not been involved in the process, and,
because the proposed changes have already been approved by the
Faculty Executive Committee and the Undergraduate Council of the
Academic Senate, students will have a more difficult time offering
input now.
The proposal, formulated by the GE Governance Committee, will
cut the number of required GE courses from 14 to 10 and increase
the units of those courses from four to five units without
mandating a specific diversity component.
In the absence of student representation, the GE Governance
Committee has relied on exit surveys from students leaving UCLA,
colloquia at dorms concerning GE requirements and surveys from
students in GE clusters to gauge student opinion, Rodes said.
The GE Governance Committee initially debated including a
diversity requirement. It concluded that the large number of GE
courses already addressing race, ethnicity and gender, as well as
the mixed support among faculty and students, justified keeping a
formal diversity component out of the requirements, Rodes said.
Karen Rowe, chair of the Faculty Executive Committee, agreed
that input from students and faculty demonstrated that overwhelming
support for a diversity requirement did not exist.
But USAC members say greater student representation on the GE
Governance Committee would have demonstrated greater support for
the diversity requirement.
“The faculty is cynical of student input,” Tan said.
“They have respect for students as thinkers, but not as
policymakers.”
Rodes said he repeatedly asked for a student representative to
sit on the committee, but USAC has yet to appoint a student
representative
USAC President Karren Lane said committee meetings conflicted
with the schedules of many students.
Lane suggested that the committee consider other avenues in
which students can voice their interests.