Feelings have been running high at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management since the FIU Faculty Senate approved, by a vote of 37-20, an undergraduate core curriculum – a set of 13 classes that all students must take in order to graduate, regardless off their major. “A high percentage of our students are transfer students,” said Joseph West, the dean of Hospitality and Tourism Management. “Now, because of the UCC, a lot of those transfer students are looking [for their education] elsewhere.
” He cited the University of Central Florida as an example, a school some students choose over FIU, because it doesn’t have a core curriculum. During the meeting to decide the curriculum, the department of Arts and Sciences held 29 of the 57 votes and voted in favor of the UCC. “Arts and Sciences voted as a block in favor of the UCC, because it stands to help them,” West said. In this new measure, all 13 of the UCC courses are Arts and Sciences classes.
However, this statement was refuted by Bruce Hauptli, an Arts and Sciences senator at the time and the current head of the Faculty Senate. “I do not specifically remember Arts and Sciences voting as a block in favor of the [UCC],” he said. Though the number of votes was recorded, the Faculty Senate did not keep a record of each senator’s vote.
According to the Faculty Senate website, UCC courses are important because they help students think critically, analytically and creatively to broaden their base of knowledge, so they will have a passion to learn how to assemble, assess, incorporate, and synthesize new knowledge and information.
However, the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management has always been opposed to the UCC. “[This school] is losing out on the lucrative out-of-state student because of the UCC. Even if a student wishes to attend FIU, they often don’t want to spend the time or money on the extra courses,” West said. Depending on transfer credits,