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The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

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Changes to DARS Worries Some Humanities Students

(Photo by Kiffer Creveling)
(Photo by Kiffer Creveling)

 

Students in the U’s College of Humanities may have some deceptive information on their DARS reports.

History students, particularly in their final undergraduate semester, may have noticed a new requirement added to their otherwise unmarred list of green checks. Nadja Durbach, a professor in the history department, explained there was nothing added to the 2014-2015 catalogue year except that a new class, The Historian’s Craft, has been included in the history major.

“Those already in the major were grandfathered into the old system and thus no new requirements were added for them,” Durbach said. “This class is intended as a methods class to more fully prepare students for researching and writing history.”

Durbach explained that the history department strongly felt students should not be required to write a senior research paper without having more training in the methods of historical research and the practices of historians. The department hopes to better prepare students for their final capstone course.

Shawn Adrian, academic advisor in the English department, said students who have already declared their majors should have nothing to worry about in terms of changes that are being added to the course requirements schedule.

“When departments make changes to their major requirements, these changes aren’t retroactively applied to students who have already entered the program; they can only be applied to students who enter the program from that point forward,” Adrian said. “A department couldn’t implement a change in curriculum that would add a required course for graduating seniors and postpone their graduation.”

He said the only exception for a senior wanting to complete the new requirements would be if the student thought the classes would help them get into graduate school.

Despite the assurance from advisors with the College of Humanities, the fact that these classes are appearing on DARS reports for students who do not have to complete them can be alarming. Students wanting to learn more about the graduation requirements for the year they declared their major should see the U Course Catalog at www.catalog.utah.edu.

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