During reports of members, Matthew Mayeda announced that the undergraduate council will review several new minors, such as Chicano Literature, and possibly eliminate those that are underperforming.
This comes at the behest of Chancellor Pradeep Khosla, who would also like to see all majors have more similar numbers of units. Currently, the academic requirements of the two most demanding majors — bioengineering and electrical engineering — total 168 units. On the opposite end of the spectrum, several other majors tie at just 48 units.
Mayeda also reported that Therapy Fluffies will join us on Tuesday of finals week.
Angela Song, director of Organizational Performance Assessments, continued special presentations with an update on the first-ever strategic plan for UCSD.
Though Song stated the purpose of the plan in kinder terms, it is essentially a series of initiatives to make our university more than just a safety school to top applicants. Currently, the list includes strengthening our co-curriculars and improving faculty retention. Song also encouraged councilmembers (and everyone else on campus) to offer their suggestions on how to improve campus climate while continuously pushing for higher academic rank.
I would like to offer a suggestion a la San Diego Padres outfielder Carlos Quentin — let’s just up and bum rush Los Angeles.
Actual suggestions from councilmembers include establishing an Islamic Studies minor and introducing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training for faculty and staff. Council also brought up the topic of transportation a number of times, particularly in relation to improving the accessibility of our fortress-like campus. Song acknowledged that the proposed cuts to transportation are currently a touchy issue in the study.
A.S. President Andy Buselt congratulated councilmembers on their original input.
“This is a council with a lot of opinions, and that’s a great example of student involvement,” he said. “But I feel like it needs to extend beyond what’s happening in just this room.”
Strategic plan or not, it seems UCSD is doing pretty well. We are the eighth-best public university in the nation, and in at least one ranking, among the top 20 universities in the world — so kiss our geeky, chalk-covered butts, SDSU.
UCSD’s mission, coincidentally, is stated as follows: We will be a model, student-centered, world-class university that will boldly go where no man has gone before.
I might have made that last part up. But if a UC campus were to journey to outer space, it would totally be UCSD.
Council then began the agonizing process of approving its budget by going through the spreadsheet office by office. You’ll be relieved — I certainly was — to know that it passed with only minor bumps in the road.
