Tony and Cindi,
The Undergraduate Studies Committee (UGS) of the University Faculty Senate
discussed the proposal to revise the breadth requirements for BA degress in the
College of Arts & Sciences at its meeting yesterday, November 18th.
UGS supports the revisions to the requirements with the exception that we do
not support the change in the minimum grade requirement from a D to a C-.
Our concerns with the change in grade requirement are two-fold and we refer to
statements made in "The Proposal" section of the memo to Tony from
Brian Ackerman dated
First, using a C- grade to distinguish as “meaningful” in terms of the level of
mastery of course content seemed somewhat arbitrary to UGS and does not fit
well with the definitions of the letter grades as given in the University
catalog (e.g., B = Good, C = Fair, D = Poor). If one were to apply the
“meaningful” term, then why is it that the Mathematics and Foreign Language
Arts & Sciences college skill requirements can be satisfied with a
D-? Is a grade below C- in these instances a “meaningful” course
experience, and if not, then why should they be counted as satisfying a College
requirement?
Second, in the proposal, the definition of meaningful was given “in terms of a
minimum level of mastery of course content appropriate for a non-specialist”.
This definition would seem to be in contradiction with the requirement for
majors in the College pursuing BA degrees to have a minimum grade of C- in
their major courses. What is the distinction then between
“non-specialists” and majors in terms of their mastery of course content?
Let me know if you have any questions concerning our comments. If you would
like to meet with UGS to discuss this issue, please let me know, and we could
arrange for you to attend a future UGS meeting.
John M.
Dr. John A. Madsen
Chair, Undergraduate Studies Committee of the University Faculty Senate
Associate Professor
Department of Geological Sciences
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716
Phone - 302-831-1608
FAX - 302-831-4158