The University of Washington faculty voted 921 to 434 against establishing a new undergraduate requirement in the study of American pluralism, the Faculty Senate announced Oct. 24.
The rule would have required new students to take five credits in “pluralism in American society” by the time they graduate. Originally conceived as an ethnic studies requirement, last spring the Faculty Senate expanded the proposal to also include issues of gender, age, religion, sexual preference and other topics.
Opponents of the idea said the requirement was a “fad” and a piecemeal approach to curriculum reform. Proponents felt that in today’s diverse society, a well-educated person should have some grasp of issues of race, gender and other subjects. The proposal began as a student initiative for a 10-credit ethnic studies requirement.
At the October meeting, Medicine Professor David Irby told the senate the idea will be re-examined when his faculty committee reviews general education requirements later this year. “We will keep the pluralism issue before us,” he said. “It is not lost. It will be looked at in a larger purview.”
Last spring the senate approved the proposal twice and then received 462 requests for a referendum. About 57 percent of the eligible faculty voted during the first three weeks of Autumn Quarter. The campus vote was the first time in 16 years that a referendum was held on this type of academic reform.