Last week, the Academic Senate unanimously approved a motion to add an undergraduate student voting member to the Core Curriculum Review Committee, the body in charge of the development, maintenance, assessment and evaluation of the UCCS.,”Marquette undergraduates will soon have a voice on the development of the University Core of Common Studies.

Last week, the Academic Senate unanimously approved a motion to add an undergraduate student voting member to the Core Curriculum Review Committee, the body in charge of the development, maintenance, assessment and evaluation of the UCCS. The CCRC and Marquette Student Government jointly submitted the motion.

The UCCS is the required curriculum of all Marquette undergraduate students.

Jason Rae, MUSG legislative vice president and junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, submitted the original proposal to the CCRC to add a student member, a motion that passed 11-1 with one abstention by the committee in October. Rae said he had been working on getting a student added to the committee for more than a year.

"The Core of Common Studies affects all undergraduate students at Marquette," Rae said. "Student input in this area is especially important."

As with all other student members of all university committees, the CCRC representative will be appointed by the president and executive vice president of MUSG. The student will serve a one-year term and will be responsible for attending the semi-monthly meetings. Rae said he hopes to have a student on the committee by the beginning of next semester.

According to the minutes of the Oct. 10 CCRC meeting, a concern was raised that a student member may not respect the confidentiality of discussions on instructors' courses and syllabi. The chair of the committee, Christine Krueger, said she is not concerned.

"I don't see that there are any special privacy concerns at all," Krueger, director of Core Curriculum, said in an e-mail. "I think students and faculty alike understand that tact and discretion should govern all civil discourse."

Rae said students already serve on several boards in which the information is sensitive, such as the Honors Committee.

"Confidentiality is not something members should worry about," he said. "We want the committees to be able to engage in frank and open discussions.

The CCRC is one of 32 university committees with student membership, including the Board of Undergraduate Studies, the Budget Committee, the Financial Aid Committee and the Athletics Committee.

MUSG President Brock Banks, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said he expects the new student position to benefit the CRCC.

"Student representation makes the university better," Banks said. "The core affects all students and the committee should benefit from student input."

Banks said plans are in the works to formally request additional student guests on board of trustees committees. The MUSG president and executive vice president currently serve as guest members on the Student Affairs Committee.

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