Spring Break
Senate debates 'W' courses
Michelle Firestone
Issue date: 4/7/09 Section: News
The issue that generated the most discussion at yesterday's University Senate meeting in the Merlin W. Bishop Center was not the budget crisis, but a related issue: the writing requirement.
The current writing requirement mandates that all students take either English 1110 or 1111 and two writing courses, one of which must be discipline-specific to the student's major, before graduation. Students are required to write a total of 15 pages and must pass the writing component to pass each writing course.
Katharina von Hammerstein, a senator and professor in the Modern and Classical Languages department, presented a comprehensive report outlining the requirement, its logistics, and the concerns it has raised.
One of the major concerns regarding the writing requirement is that students often have difficulty getting into the courses, which are capped at 19 students so that each professor can pay a sufficient amount of attention to each student's work. This challenge has forced some writing course teachers to over-enroll.
"I commend every one of you that have been sticking to that [cap]," Von Hammerstein said. "If we didn't have that cap, chances are, professors wouldn't have the 15-page requirement because it would be too much work."
Sen. Hedley Freake, chair of the Senate Executive Committee and a nutritional sciences professor who teaches a writing course for nutritional sciences majors, said the writing requirement is beneficial to students but that the enrollment problem needs to be addressed further.
"I have no doubt that students grow and develop their writing skills as they take my course," Freake said. "[But] the reality is you don't get into that particular course when you need to."
"The real question here is not should there be 19 in a class. I think it's how we can help our students be better writers," Bennett said.
After much discussion, Sen. English motioned that the issue be referred to the Curricula and Courses Committee, a motion supported by Von Hammerstein. The Committee will report on the issue to the Senate in February, 2010.
The current writing requirement mandates that all students take either English 1110 or 1111 and two writing courses, one of which must be discipline-specific to the student's major, before graduation. Students are required to write a total of 15 pages and must pass the writing component to pass each writing course.
Katharina von Hammerstein, a senator and professor in the Modern and Classical Languages department, presented a comprehensive report outlining the requirement, its logistics, and the concerns it has raised.
One of the major concerns regarding the writing requirement is that students often have difficulty getting into the courses, which are capped at 19 students so that each professor can pay a sufficient amount of attention to each student's work. This challenge has forced some writing course teachers to over-enroll.
"I commend every one of you that have been sticking to that [cap]," Von Hammerstein said. "If we didn't have that cap, chances are, professors wouldn't have the 15-page requirement because it would be too much work."
Sen. Hedley Freake, chair of the Senate Executive Committee and a nutritional sciences professor who teaches a writing course for nutritional sciences majors, said the writing requirement is beneficial to students but that the enrollment problem needs to be addressed further.
"I have no doubt that students grow and develop their writing skills as they take my course," Freake said. "[But] the reality is you don't get into that particular course when you need to."
"The real question here is not should there be 19 in a class. I think it's how we can help our students be better writers," Bennett said.
After much discussion, Sen. English motioned that the issue be referred to the Curricula and Courses Committee, a motion supported by Von Hammerstein. The Committee will report on the issue to the Senate in February, 2010.
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