Page 6-CROSSROADS-November, 1971
Curriculum Revisiun
Last year the College revised,
the outline of requirements for
the baccalaureate degree. A
new curriculum plan was
originated in our Academic
Affairs Committee, a faculty
elective committee including
three students among its nine
members and chaired by the
Academic Dean. The proposal
was discussed - in fact, rather
hotly debated - in meetings of
the College’s three divisions
(Humanities, Social Sciences,
Natural Sciences). Finally,
with resulting modifications, it
was sent to the administration
for approval. It went into effect
at the opening of the present
semester and seems thus far to
promise good results.
Basically, it constitutes a
change from the prescription of
specific courses in rigid
sequence to the use of more
flexible “distribution”
requirements, arranged as
follows:
General: 120 credits,
distributed as follows: Core: 63
credits. Major, 30 credits.
Approved Electives, 12 credits.
Free Electives, 15 credits.
Core Distribution:
Humanities. 30-39 Credits.
English, Fine Arts, Foreign
Language, History, Philosophy,
Theology.
Social Sciences - 12-15
credits. Economics, History,
Political Science, Psychology,
Sociology.
Natural Sciences,
Mathematics, Accounting: 8-14
credits.
Accounting, Astronomy,
Biology, Chemistry,
Geography, Geology,
Mathematics, Physics.
Physical Education - 4
credits.
Several Seminars will be
offered for the option of
Freshmen. They will offer 3
credits which may be applied to
core requirements according to
the area of the seminar as
determined by the Academic
Affairs Committee.
For activities such as student
publications, debate, and
theatre, a student may earn one
co-curricular credit per
semester for full participation
certified by a faculty moderator
or director.
The following extract
is from an article appearing in
Free Lance (our student
newspaper) September 10,
1971.
Student Reaction
To Curriculum
By Ben Bowling
In recent weeks Belmont
Abbey College has experienced
a drastic curriculum revision.
This has generated definite
responses, and while it is
somewhat premature to attempt
a broad evaluation of the
program, the incubation period
is safely past, and some
observations can be made.
Most outstanding is a plan of
“free access” opened to
freshmen. A student with a
particular bend of interest does
not have to wait until his
sophomore year to get the first
taste of his intended major.
Assuming he is not barred by
prerequisites, he can enter into
a two-hundred, three-hundred,
or even four-hundred level
course.
There is considerable
applause from the freshmen
this year for this point, but not
so from the upper-classmen,
particularly the sophomores.
Many feel that the registration
process did not take this fully
into account, resulting in a
number of courses being closed
out with massive fre,shman
enrollment. Sophomores could
not get necessary history and
political science courses until
after registration period, and
many still could not do so
because of further conflicts.
Even some seniors have been
caught short on a few of their
basic requirements.
The situation, however, is
closely tied with another
phenomenon: the great exodus
from foreign languages. There
is some difference of opinion
regarding the proper place of
languages in a student’s college
curriculum. Some regard it as
fundamental to his cultural
awareness, others think it a
discipline from which he will
derive no particular value, and
still others remind us that while
Belmont Abbey will grant a
degree without a language, most
graduate schools prefer an
applicant who is so equipped.
Perhaps the most even-handed
response came from one of the
faculty members interviewed.
According to him, while this
flight shows an “undesirable
disinclination’’ toward
languages, it “serves to
illustrate the extreme pressure
the College was under to do
something about a mechanical
language requirement.” ^
The run from languages
overloaded other areas and
created the illusion that the
Abbey is becoming primarily a
social sciences college. Some
go so far as to say that these
have become the bread and
butter of the College. Others
disagree, citing the danger that
such a move would set the Abbey
up in competition with other
schools who may be better
equipped to perform this
function. They say further that
much of this illusion is created
by the lumping of the College’s
busiest single major. Business
and Economics, into the social
sciences division, when it
really belongs by itself. They
also cite strengths in other
departments and divisions.
Many of the loose ends of this
restructuring move will take
considerable time to tie up.
Some things will take a few
years. Those areas that were
helped are that much ahead.
Those that were hurt must
adjust and adapt their programs
in a competitive atmosphere,
with the only assurance against
an academic undersell being the
faith that the students will
choose quality over a particular
course’s ease . . .
NLRB Anil Hisher Education
AAUP recently petitioned the
NLRB to consider issuing
general rules to clarify issues
in representation cases
involving college and university
faculty members. The petition
states that problems
confronting NLRB arise from
the uniqueness of relationship
between faculty and the college
or university, a uniqueness
which has no counterpart in any
industrial settings NLRB has
ruled against the petition. (AGB
Notes, Vol. 2, No. 6, July-
August, 1971.).
Crisis In
Private Colleges
TWO NEW REPORTS SEE
CONTINUING FINANCIAL
CRISIS FOR U.S. COLLEGES
Two separate research
reports released this week
predict a continuing financial
crisis over the next decade for
the nation’s colleges and
universities. One report,
prepared for the U.S. Office of
Education by the Syracuse
University Research
Corporation’s Educational
Policy Research Center, states
that the crisis “will persist at
least through the 1970s.” The
other study, prepared by the
Association of American
Colleges, warns that a large
number of private institutions
“couldbeoutof business in ten
years.”
The Syracuse study, prepared
by James C. Byrnes and A. Dale
Tussing, associate directors of
the research center, assert that
the present financial crisis was
generated by ‘‘an
extraordinarily high rate of
increase in the l960s in the
tendency of members of the 18
to 24 year old age group to go to
college.” They say the
increases were paid for in three
ways: by significant increases
in real resources, by a
reduction in staff-student
ratios, and by an abnormally
low rate of growth in
expenditures per staff member.
There is considerable doubt,
however, they state, “as to
whether any of these three ways
of paying for the growth of the
system in the 1960s can be
sustained in the 1970s.” They
said general income received
by all institutions during the
1960s, adjusted for price
changes, rose 7.7 percent per
year, more than doubling in a
decade.
Continuing conditions of
“stable crisis,” they said,
meaning no further
deterioration, would require an
annual increase of real
resources of 7.8 percent
through 1975, 7.5 percent
through 1980, and 5.7 percent
through 1990. to achieve
conditions of “stable health”
experienced in the 1960s, they
estimate an annual increase in
real resources of 12.9 percent
would be required by 1975, 10.1
percent by 1980 and 6.9 percent
by 1990 ...
TheAAC report found that 316
out of 507 private institutions
had operating deficits in the
1970-71 fiscal year. This
compares to 308 out of 531
colleges and universities
surveyedin 1969-70, and 223 out
of 531 institutions in 1968-69.
William W. Jellema of the AAC
staff and author of the report,
said the deficits of the 316
colleges and universities
ranged from $2,000 to $4
million.
Jellema said that 210 colleges
and universities could be on the
verge of extinction in less than a
year, including one third . of
those in the geographical center
of the country. He predicted
that colleges enrolling 1,000
students or less - particularly
those below 500 - will be the
hardest hit.
His report states that even if
the colleges continue to run
deficits no larger than they
anticipated this last fiscal year,
50 percent of all private
accredited four - year
institutions - including 72
percent of those enrolling 500
students or less - as well as 45
percent of those offering the
master’s degree in no more
than three fields could be‘ ‘out of
business” in ten years.
Suffering the same fate, he said,
would be 37 percent of those
offering the master’s degree in
four or more fields, and 48
percent of all private
institutions granting the Ph.D.
(Higher Education and National
Affairs, Vol. XX, No. 35,
September 24, 1971.)