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2826 DOCUMENTS OF THE GENERAL FACULTY EDUCATIONAL POLICY COMMITTEE PROPOSAL ON THE LEGISLATIVE REQUIREMENT On behalf of the Educational Policy Committee, Co-Chairs Archie Holmes (associate professor, electrical and computer engineering) and Paul Woodruff (professor, philosophy) have presented the following proposal for discussion by the Faculty Council at its meeting on January 26, 2004. <signed> Sue Alexander Greninger, Secretary The Faculty Council   EDUCATIONAL POLICY COMMITTEE PROPOSAL ON THE LEGISLATIVE REQUIREMENT (as amended by the Committee on November 24, 2003) The current twelve-hour requirement is for six hours of American history and six hours of American government, including Texas government. We ask the president to ask the System to coordinate with other Texas institutions of higher learning in proposing to the legislature that the twelve hours be allocated as follows: three hours US history three hours US government six hours social science (any area)1 Rationale: 1. The world for which we are preparing students is increasingly complex. There is so much to learn now that few major universities outside of Texas have requirements as restrictive as those now in force here under legislative mandate. Some measure of deregulation is in the best interests of students. In addition, more flexible legislative requirements will allow each college and university to adjust its degree requirements to meet new educational goals, as they develop, without adversely affecting graduation rates. 2. More flexible requirements will lead to better graduation rates, as students will be able to select from a wider array of courses that meet their time constraints or satisfy other special requirements of their degree programs. 3. More flexible requirements will also lead to a higher degree of portability for satisfying degree requirements. They will be better able to transfer credit from AP and IB courses taken at high school, and from courses taken at other colleges or universities inside or outside Texas. This too, will lead to faster graduation rates. 1Changed from three hours to six hours on January 26, 2004. Posted on the Faculty Council Web site on January 23, 2004. Paper copies are available on request from the Office of the General Faculty, FAC 22, F9500.