On behalf of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, Dean of Arts and Sciences Susan Birren, Senior Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences for Undergraduate Education Elaine Wong, Profs. Tory Fair (FA) and Bulbul Chakraborty (PHYS) and Alona Weimer ’18 presented the draft of the new General Education Requirements to the Senate and took questions from Union members.

The University last revised the requirements 24 years ago. A student questionnaire was sent out in the spring of 2016 and got over 1,400 responses and 360 pages of comments about the current requirements.

The proposals added First Year Experience requirements, including attending two talks called “Critical Conversations” during the semester of their UWS. 

The requirements also include the Schools of Thought (one class in the humanities, creative arts, social sciences and sciences), Foundational Literacies (quantitative reasoning, one writing intensive, one oral communication and a new digital literacy course) and one physical education class in each of the three modules (navigating health and safety, mind and body balance, and life skills). The Global Engagement section would include the “World Language and Culture” requirement (three semesters of a foreign language), the “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Studies in the U.S.” requirement and the “Difference and Justice in the World” requirement.

The new requirements, if passed, would take effect for students entering in the fall of 2019.

North Quad Senator Josh Hoffman ’21 expressed concern over the higher number of course requirements, saying he feels that each semester students must sacrifice a class that they want to do for one that is required. Chakraborty answered that the classes are part of the majors and curricula will be revised to accommodate them.

Senator-at-Large Shaquan McDowell ’18 and Chief Justice Lilly Hecht ’18 both expressed concern about the replacement of the non-Western and Comparative Studies by the DJW requirement, stating that the point of the non-Western requirement was to explore topics outside of the western world and consider the perspectives of people of color. 

Wong replied that the DJW requirement will better explore current issues and will be social justice-oriented, and that while some students would not go outside of their comfort zones, the courses would be focusing on global issues, whether or not individual courses focus on the Western world. 

In the standard portion of the Senate meeting, Asia Hollinger ’18 and Keturah Walker ’18, founders of the majorette dance club TOXIC, approached the Senate for probationary club accreditation. The Senate voted unanimously to issue a probationary accreditation.

The Senate then discussed providing Sharsheret, a club supporting Jewish women with breast cancer, with a charter and access to funding. Senators brought up concerns that Sharsheret may be exclusive and therefore ineligible for funding because it focuses solely on supporting Jewish women.

Racial Minority Senator Hangil Ryu ’20 made a point that there are many clubs that are exclusive in their mission but are not exclusive to membership.

A revision was made to the Club Support bylaws concerning the definition of exclusivity as it relates to a club’s mission and membership. The Senate voted unanimously to charter Sharsheret.

The Senate also voted unanimously to allow the arts and literary magazine “Where the Children Play” to change its name to “Blacklist.”

Additionally, the Senate voted to confirm Hecht to the Union’s Executive Board.

In executive officer reports, Brown took the opportunity to discuss an issue related to the Department of Community Living conducting fire drills and then checking rooms and issuing fire safety write-ups without advance warning. She stated that the fire drills are required by the City of Waltham and said that she talked to DCL about student complaints. 

Brown and Student Union President Jacob Edelman ’18 also met with University President Ron Liebowitz and announced that Liebowitz would be creating a suggestion box for students to  write in complaints about the University and problems they want fixed.


—Emily Blumenthal