University of Wisconsin Eau Claire - Periscope Yearbook (Eau Claire, WI)

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 Curriculum Changes: Tougher By Jan Paul Colleges across the country are tightening student requirements. John W. Morris. UW-Eau Claire vice chancellor said. Effective fall semester 1978. UW-EC changed the General Studies requirements and revised the school's available majors. 'We're offering the opportunity to acquire knowledge, understanding, and skill that should be required of all educated people.' Morris said. Responding to the 10-year cycle colleges tend to go through, and from criticism by the North Central Accrediting Agency (NCAA), the faculty senate voted in favor of restructuring the General Studies program. Morris said he believes the former program didn't require students actually to learn and take a representative variety of courses. The major was becoming less valuable.” The new version of General Studies began with UW-EC’s 1978 freshman class, but the effects won't be entirely realized until the end of 1981. Students are allowed to graduate under the catalog they began classes with at UW-EC. Consequently, many of this year's students followed the previous General Studies program. Freshman and transfer students worked their course plans around the 1978 revision. The restructured General Studies program, now titled General Education, consists of two changes. First, the English composition requirement is not counted within tne credits applied to the General Education total, it is a separate University requirement. In addition to the standard five to six English credits, the students must also pass an English competency exam. The other portion of the change states that the student must earn the required minimum of 39 credits in the General Education program. Among the four categories the students must complete; Communication—six credits; Natural Sciences—nine credits; Social Sciences—12 credits; Humanities—12 credits. This differed from the previous program where the student needed a minimum of 30 credits and a maximum of 40 credits with the General Studies program, including at least six credits in each of four categories. This revision should remain for eight to ten years; until two classes of students are through and the administration can review the flaws of the system. Morris explained. He agreed that the restructuring follows a trend back in time, but said the program would not go back to the times when relatively little selection of courses was available. In com- 18 Curriculum Change

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Freshman Status: “Wet Behind The Ears” I began my freshman year with an eagerness some of my dorm-mates had never known or since forgotten. I moved into Murray Hall on a hot August day. During a summer of anticipation. I had told myself that being a freshman on any college campus would not be easy. Adjustments would have to be made. Nevertheless. I was eager to handle the responsibility, but not exactly sure what I would do with it. Perspiration streamed down my father's face as he hauled my trunk up the four flights of stairs. By the fifth box he was exhausted and said he'd have to rest. The car was still half-full. I suppose you could say as a rookie I was easy to spot with a ton of “necessary items. After summer orientation. I accumulated everything possible for my new room. A shock awaited me on arrival to the campus. A bare mattress, green drapes, beige tile floor and orange bolsters were to be my “home away from home. My mother just shook her head and muttered. Things haven't changed since I went to school Despite the tin foil on the walls, posters and bunk beds, it always seemed to look like a typical dorm room to me. What’s an RA? I quickly found that .as a freshman, a resident assistant lean be a matter of life or death. She (guided us en masse to each breakfast. lunch and dinner those first few days Gradually, we grew courageous enough to rough it with a friend to Hilltop. I now regret the words I foolishly said the first week of school. Why does everyone complain about the food? It's not so bad. I soon found out why. I lost 15 pounds my first semester. Somehow. I couldn't acquire a taste for warm starch and mystery meat combinations. It was just as easy to reject campus food as It was to discover the Street. All too soon I became a recording. What's your name? Where's your hometown? What's your major? Where do you live? What did you say your name was again? My responses were equally gratifying. Boy, I’m getting smashed but sure. I'll have another beer. “No kidding. They're really packing in tonight. I can hardly move! Call it freshman-fever but for those first few weeks, you couldrvi put a book in my hand I did learn the language of the campus. though. I think the trick was to place the word the In front of every word. For example. After going up THE hill. I'm going to THE mall and back down THE hill to THE street. Maybe it was maturity but homework and school began to gain importance after a while (Actually, it was prompted by my mid-semester progress report.) By October. I was an honorary member of the Billy McIntyre Society. Every weeknight, a stream of girts would head down to the library to study—too bad it wasn't always homework By November I stopped having bouts with homesickness, a strange disease which compels many freshman to write 1.000 letters and acquire $50 phone bills. By December. I realized the campus which stressed excellence had much to offer if you looked for it. People began to smile, stop and talk. I had survived my first semester at college! ■ Frathnan Statu 17

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requirements plying to the NCAA’s criticism, sufficient structure was added to provide students with knowledge of past and present knowledge. Morris said. ”1 want it to be a real college education, not a waste of taxpayers' money. He said he expects the revision will make the program more demanding than it has been. The revision includes a three-year review of the undergraduate majors offered. Four majors were deleted because they were obsolete and eight majors were added in meeting the students' needs. Morris said. The new majors include religious studies, criminal Justice, computer science, and combinations of existing majors; there were 55 majors available this year. It isn't necessary for a major revision to occur for majors to change. Morris explained, it’s an ongoing process of updating and upgrading to meet the students' needs. Combined efforts of the students and the faculty produced another change effective when final grades were turned in. More grade slots” were added to the 4.0 grade scale In the form of pluses and minuses so students could be graded more accurately. ■ Extreme left: Higher standards could rate pressure tor grades; win It be a paper chase? Left: Pluses and minuses were added to the 4.0 grade scale to be a more accurate barometer ot student wort. Above: Sutler requirements may impel students to put In longer hours at the library, as Ken Lee and Marti Anderson illustrate. Curriculum Changes 10