Starting next school year, those courses will no longer count toward the general education credits every undergraduate must earn, regardless of major. Some may still appear as part of a degree program or as an elective, regent Shelley Sweatt said.
Senate Bill 37 set the review in motion. Texas Tech Chancellor Brandon Creighton authored the law while serving in the state Senate, and it requires university governing boards to review core curriculum at least once every five years. Sweatt said the review started in May, with academic leadership and faculty committees checking each course against standards for preparing students for civic and professional life.
Faculty member Andrew Martin questioned how the cuts happened. "[The removal] opens up a huge question about what criteria are being used to determine which courses stay and which courses go," he said. He added, "What we're talking about is limiting the ability of our students to have a complete education."
The chancellor who wrote the law now leads the system whose regents just put it to work.