Undergraduate Council:

Agenda for 31 October, 2000

  1. Approval of minutes.  How to handle this problem now in the future?  Karen Sprague reports (I hope of some solution now that Carol will no longer be available).
  2. How to deal with the problem of courses that lose Group Status.  Less of a problem than I had thought.
    1. We now a have a list of courses that have not been taught for three years.  I do not believe there should be an advising issue in such cases, because few current students would have taken the courses in question
    2. The problem comes up with a course like CIS 121, which has been popular and will no longer have Group status (at the department’s request) after this year.  Recommendation:  in such cases the department must devise a plan to inform; allow a grace period of three years for routine approval (with consent of ARC), but phase out as quickly as possible.
  3. By consensus, the option of disallowing group courses in a major has been dropped.  We now move to consider other options to bring coherence and to encourage breadth.
  4. Current rule is awkward
    1. The full text from page 26 of Time Schedule:  A minimum of 16 credits in approved group satisfying courses is required in each group.  Each group must include: (a) at least two courses in one subject and (b) at least one course in a different subject. For a total of 48 credits (no more than three courses from one subject).
    2. The Green Book simplifies (here somewhat abridged): You may use only three courses from one subject code to satisfy group requirements
  5. Suggestions for change (these could stand alone, or complement each other):
    1. Students may count only one course in their major toward satisfying group requirements.  [Comment: simpler, more comprehensible; encourages breadth without penalizing excessively those who change their majors late??)
    2. Students must complete a minimum of two courses in one subject code in each of the three groups.  [Comment:  ensures breadth, but also coherence]
  6. Courses designated “majors only” may not be used to satisfy group requirement.


Undergraduate Council, 5256 University of Oregon • (541) 346-1221 • Last Update: October 15, 2001