Campus forums on undergraduate education end, discussions continue
Archived article from Nov 21, 2005
By Ashanti M. Alvarez
A series of campus forums to discuss proposals to reform undergraduate education wrapped up last week with constituents across the university weighing in on the work of a task force appointed by President Richard L. McCormick and Executive Vice President Philip Furmanski.
The past few weeks saw students and alumni from Rutgers, Livingston and University colleges providing input and feedback. Student life staff also attended a forum at the Nov. 11 Student Life Conference, and alumni associations passed resolutions on the proposals.
The task force report, “Transforming Undergraduate Education,” recommends fundamental changes to the curriculum and structure at Rutgers, as well as reforms in admissions, student services and facilities. Among the most dramatic changes, the report recommends establishing a Rutgers College of Arts and Sciences with a core curriculum for all New Brunswick arts and sciences students.
While the campus forums that were scheduled at the beginning of the semester have ended, discussion will continue within various bodies throughout the New Brunswick/Piscataway campus. McCormick will consider all the discussions and make recommendations to the Rutgers Board of Governors next semester.
At the Student Life Conference forum, staff members wrote questions on index cards to pose to four task force members and Furmanski. Several questions expressed staff perception that they had not been adequately consulted during the task force deliberations.
Task Force Chair Barry Qualls said that task force members did consult with some staff but emphasized focus groups with students. “Our central aim was to endlessly consult with students,” said Qualls, who is also dean of humanities in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in New Brunswick. He said that staff members would be pivotal in implementing the recommendations that McCormick will make to the board of governors. “You can’t implement any part of this report without consultation with staff. Only the people who do this on a daily basis can adequately inform an implementation process.”
Other questions concerned the reorganization of the residential colleges’ student governments, leadership programs and Equal Opportunity Fund programs, as well as leadership positions for students. Task force members have said in their report and at forums that students would determine the structure of student government and that their goal was not to reduce leadership programs but make them available to more students.
One staff member expressed concern that a recommendation for more evening and weekend classes would preclude students with religious obligations from registering for their required classes. “It’s not that every science course will now be offered on Sundays, or that organic chemistry will only be done on Friday night,” Furmanski said. He added that critical classroom shortages demanded a better distribution of class scheduling.
At the Oct. 27 Rutgers College forum, a predominant theme was that Rutgers College constituents had felt overlooked. With much debate dominated by the status of Livingston, Douglass and University colleges, many Rutgers College students and staff wondered why people were not highlighting the positives of their school.
“We have a large amount of tradition and history that students take a great deal of pride in,” said Rutgers College senior Steve Lerer.
Marie Logue, associate dean of student development and college affairs at Rutgers College, said student life offices at her school, and all residential schools, are worthy of praise. “We really think we have a good thing going,” she said. Rutgers’ staff regularly receive awards from student affairs associations, conduct sessions at national conferences and host professional meetings. “There are places [in the report] where faculty unacquainted with the excellence of certain student life programs at Rutgers have made assumptions that we ought to look elsewhere for best practices,” Logue said.
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