L&S unit requirements may change

By Noah Grand
Daily Bruin Reporter

College of Letters and Science faculty will likely vote on
proposed changes to the maximum and minimum number of units
students can take.

The proposed changes would make 13 units the minimum progress
requirement for a degree and would make 216 units the most any
undergraduate can accumulate before graduating. They would also
allow students to enroll in 19 units per quarter without a
petition.

Only the petition proposal would affect new and continuing
students, and if passed, it will go into effect this fall. The
others would only affect new students.

“Students would benefit from this because they have a
clearer sense of what was expected of them. It also gives them a
useful experience to meet with counselors,” said English
Professor Karen Rowe, who is chair of the faculty executive
committee which will be voting on the requirement changes.

The proposal would require Letters and Science students to take
13 units per quarter, and would also have requirements for how many
units a student must have accumulated by a certain point in their
academic career, according to Penny Hein-Unruh, counselor and chair
of the committee that created the proposals.

“What we’re interested in is while students are here
that they are enrolled in a full-time program,” said
Hein-Unruh.

According to the Registrar’s Office, students taking 12
units are considered full-time. Some students said this is enough,
and the minimum progress requirement should not be increased beyond
12 units.

“There are a lot of four-unit classes that are very
difficult. I’m only taking 12 units and it is my most
difficult quarter yet,” said Myk Taylor, a third-year Chinese
and computer science

student.

Hein-Unruh said an increased number of students are taking 13 or
14 units, mainly because of five-unit classes. GE clusters and
writing classes are five units, and Hein-Unruh said that there are
a growing number classes changing to five units.

“Departments are taking a look at courses and assessing if
they give the appropriate unit value for that course,”
Hein-Unruh said.

The proposals come at a time when the university is struggling
to get students to graduate earlier so that it can accommodate the
projected influx of students known as Tidal Wave II.

In the next 10 years, the university is expected to admit about
60,000 students who are the children of the baby boomer
generation.

The English department was the first department to make major
changes after a report found that students weren’t being
given the proper number of units for the time spent per class. Most
undergraduate English classes are now worth five units as a result
of changes spurred by the report.

Other departments are doing similar evaluations.

“This evaluating of courses has gone on for four or five
years,” Hein-Unruh said.

Because most English classes are five units, an English student
taking four classes would generally need a signed petition from the
College of Letters and Science because they were taking more than
18 units.

The proposed changes would increase this limit to 19 units,
allowing students to enroll in three five-unit upper division
courses and one GE class or elective without the need for a
petition.

“We have always recommended a balanced upper-division
curriculum. If a student takes three English courses that are heavy
in reading and writing, they should balance it with something that
finishes their GEs or an elective so they are not overwhelmed with
reading and writing,” Rowe said.

Other professors disagree with this plan and with the need to
enroll in 19 units.

“The whole point of making most English classes five units
is to make sure that students didn’t have to take four
classes. Taking three classes should be standard,” said
Charles Batten, vice chair of the English department in charge of
undergraduate education.

Students also disagree on how many units a student should take.
According to Rowe, last year’s freshman class enrolled in an
average of 14.7 units per quarter, but there is little consensus on
how many units is correct.

“I think full-time is 16 units, but everyone has to
determine what their workload should be,” said Meaghan
Cosgrove, a third-year international economics students. “It
depends on the individual

student.”

Rowe said it is important for a student to sit down and talk
with a counselor if they want to take 20 or more units, and that
counselor involvement is a major part of the proposal.

“These proposals are useful because students meet with
their counselors earlier and can map a plan for their academic
progress,” Rowe said.

Rowe said students will need to plan their courses earlier if
they want a minor or a second major because the proposed changes
would cut the number of units a student with a minor, second major
or specialization can accumulate before graduating to 216
units.

These students are currently allowed to complete up to 228
units, and 216 units is the maximum for single majors.

Rowe said more students may opt to take minors instead of second
majors, especially with more minors being offered.

Careful planning toward a final degree would also be more
important because the proposal raises the number of units a student
is expected to complete in an academic year from 36 to 42. This is
closer to the 45 units per year needed to earn the 180 unit minimum
to graduate in four years.

“We want to help students graduate on time,” said
Wyatt Hume, executive vice chancellor.”

The proposals are currently going through the undergraduate
council, a committee of the academic senate. More deliberation is
planned before the proposals are sent to the faculty for a
vote.