To CEVT or not to CEVT: Curriculum committee votes on change to cultural events
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Megan Conley, Assistant editor
On Aug. 13, 2015 the curriculum committee at North Greenville University voted not to pass a proposed change to the way students would get credit for cultural events.
The proposed changewould have still required students to attend cultural events, but there would have been no cultural event course. Currently, students are required to attend three cultural events per semester to get credit.
With the proposal, there would have been a smaller number of required cultural events a student would need to attend. It would be up to professors in other courses to assign and regulate the students’ attendance of cultural events.
If the vote had passed, students would have still been required to attend cultural events, but they would be more accountable. Professors could give assignments or would also attend to know their students were in the audience.
Professor Walter Johnson, chair of the curriculum committee, explained the reasoning behind the proposal.
“The question is always is there a more effective way to do something. It can be difficult if the ID card doesn’t work. It’s difficult to administer the program the way it is and we wanted to know if there is a more efficient way of doing it,” said Johnson.
The vote was not over whether or not students should be required to attend cultural events, as the NGU academic catalog explains the school’s reasoning behind the importance of CEVT.
The NGU academic catalog states: “Cultural event programs are offered as a part of a liberal arts education and are intended to give students an appreciation of the arts. Such an education seeks to educate the whole person…. In exposing students to the arts, educators hope students will develop an understanding of beauty and truth as revealed through artistic expression.”
“The faculty completely agrees with that statement, that cultural events are a good thing. The committee suggested if there was a more efficient way to achieve that same goal, and that was really what the discussion was,” said Johnson.
Both sides of the issue were supported during the voting process.
“There was a healthy discussion in which people presented their views. It was very congenial. Opinions were shared on both sides of the topic. This was presented to the Curriculum Committee by the Religious Activities and Assemblies Committee,” said Johnson.
