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Adding voices

Wainess develops plan to involve students

Last Friday, Michigan Student Assembly President Flint Wainess addressed the Student Relations Committee about the possibility of student representatives on curriculum boards. His plan would give students a say in what classes the University offers them. While Wainess will not complete the plan before his term ends, he deserves commendation for setting this plan in motion.

The premise of Wainess's proposal is that "students could actually affect curriculum decisions at this University." The proposal is timely, considering the recent debate over the direction of the School of Art and Design curriculum. Art School Dean Allen Samuels might have made better curriculum choices if he had to take students' opinions into account.

LSA's curriculum committee has promised for some time to look into credit-hour discrepancies. One hundred-level classes with minimal work are worth four credits, while 400-level classes with a heavy workload only receive three credits. The committee should rework the credit-hour formula to incorporate workload as well as hours spent in the classroom. However, no plan to change the credit-hour formula has hit the horizon. If a student were on the committee, the issue would most likely be at the top of the agenda.

In addition, students in some smaller schools currently cooperate with faculty to define curriculum. Students on curriculum committees at both the School of Natural Resources and Environment and the College of Engineering said their input affected some curriculum decisions. If it works in Engineering and SNRE, it should work in the rest of the University's schools and colleges.

However, since SNRE and Engineering are both small schools, it might be easier for students to impact the curriculum. In a larger school, such as LSA, it might be difficult to generate a solid united front on issues involving the curriculum. To remedy this, Wainess and his successor need to explore more specialized concepts of the idea for it to work.

Although Wainess developed a good idea, it is important that MSA sees it through to implementation. MSA's new president must take Wainess' lead in this area. Wainess is correctly concerned with the amount of student input in curriculum decisions -- and student input will be necessary no matter who is leading MSA.

The idea of a student representative on executive committees of all 19 schools at the University is a promising idea. Students, with a newfound voice, would be willing to sit down with faculty to make the University a better learning environment. As the needs and wants of the students change, so should the curriculum -- that is why curriculum committees need students.