Demand 13: GER Requirement
via community letter, Nov. 11, 2015: RESOLVED Spring, 2019
"Emory University does not currently have a General Education Requirement that focuses specifically on the histories and experiences of people of color. The Campus Life Compact for Building an Inclusive Community at Emory (written Fall of 2012) states that the Office of the Provost and academic Deans will: 1) Consider creating a Global Citizenship & Diversity General Education Requirement and 2) Expand the range and quantity of course offerings specifically related to race relations, racism, ethnicity, etc.; encourage departments to make hires with these areas in mind whenever possible. This has not happened. Simply put, we demand that Emory University follow through on this recommendation and create a General Education Requirement for courses that explore issues significantly affecting people of color, and this course should be implemented in the fall of 2016."
A working group of undergraduate students, members of the Emory College Faculty Senate, and the SJPO interviewed faculty currently teaching diversity-related courses and reviewed model syllabi and related peer-institute GER policies. Their findings were drafted into recommendations which circulated among faculty for comment.
In 2018, an Emory College Faculty Senate working group developed undergraduate curriculum and GER core objectives that included diversity as a component. That body developed criteria for implementing diversity in a structured and meaningful way and will present those recommendations to the full Emory College Faculty Senate May 2019 semester. If approved, they will be passed to the Emory College Curriculum Committee to implement.
Updated: August 2019