EDITORS' CORNER
The University of Houston System Board of Regents put UH’s core curriculum on the chopping block, removing 133 courses that previously fulfilled general education graduation requirements.
The courses represent about 40 percent of the core curriculum, “meaning new students can no longer take classes like ‘Intro to Global Climate Change’ or ‘Introduction to LGBT Studies’ to satisfy their general education requirements,” the Houston Chronicle reported.
However, removing courses from the core curriculum does not mean they are canceled or banned, as students may still take them as electives or major requirements if they continue to be offered.
The decision, which took place Thursday, came amid efforts by higher education leaders across the Lone Star State to adhere to Senate Bill 37, a 2025 law that gave governing boards final authority over curriculum decisions and required program reviews to identify low enrollment for potential consolidation or elimination.
“Some courses were removed because of low enrollment, or because they hadn’t been offered recently. Others were labeled as upper-division courses, signifying that they weren’t ‘core.’ And others didn’t meet the framework the university developed to assess SB 37,” the Chronicle reported.
While students can still take “African American Studies” and “Latino Cultural Studies” to satisfy a core requirement for language, philosophy and culture, other cuts included “Black Liberation Theology” and “Introduction to Women’s Studies,” the newspaper reported.
Reductions were also made to core courses at the University of Houston-Downtown and the University of Houston-Clear Lake by the board on Thursday, Houston Public Media reported.
Some scholars had advised campus leaders on where to cut.
“I can tell you that the faculty were thoughtful, professional, smart, and took the task seriously, even though they would inevitably be subject to criticism from their peers, as you have heard here,” Vice Chancellor of Legal Affairs and General Counsel Dona Cornell reportedly said at the meeting.
But some members of UH’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors say they believe that the curriculum review process didn’t include enough faculty input and “maintain UH administrators over-complied with state law in their review,” the Chronicle reported.
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