By MATTHEW BOWERS
The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK – Old Dominion University’s largest and most controversial course will end after next fall, unless a Faculty Senate committee is persuaded to give it new life.
The NewPAGE – for New Portals to Appreciating Our Global Environment – course required of freshmen was to have been evaluated this fall after its initial three-year run. The Faculty Senate had been scheduled to make a recommendation next week on whether to continue the course beyond this year.
But William Drewry, chairman of the Faculty Senate, said that the administration formally asked this week that the course continue another year and then be deactivated. He said a Senate committee charged with approving such changes agreed to that request Wednesday afternoon. That means the course can’t be offered after next fall unless it is resubmitted for approval, Drewry said.
ODU President Roseann Runte said Wednesday that the administration will consider whether to try resurrecting the course after next fall as part of a broad review of potential curriculum changes.
The university’s general education requirements are being studied for possible revision. These are the basic courses that take up much of the first two years for most students – such as English, foreign languages, and basic sciences and math – before they become deeply involved in their majors.
This year, ODU began its University College, which brings together varied programs primarily for new students, to help them make a successful transition to college. The NewPAGE course is part of this, and making it permanent or changing it now would make it harder to adjust it later, Runte said. “We’re just going to leave that course alone for a year,” she said.
NewPAGE brings 2,000 freshmen together for weekly lectures in the Ted Constant Convocation Center from experts in different fields, looking at environmental issues from various perspectives.
College administrators championed the course as an innovative learning exercise that pulled freshmen together through a common experience. Many students complained that the course was disorganized and one-sided – some to the point of wearing disparaging T-shirts to lectures.
Reach Matthew Bowers at (757) 222-3893 or matthew.bowers@pilotonline.com.
