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Posted: 12:15:26 PM- OREM - Plans for a proposed global/intercultural understanding course at Utah Valley State College have been sent back to the drawing board over fears the class content might offend the conservative local community.
The 3-hour credit course was proposed as a new general education requirement for UVSC's 24,000 students. It would teach multicultural issues, difference and diversity, educators said.
The college's Board of Trustees generally approves course proposals brought before them.
But after butting heads with the community, college donors and state lawmakers two years ago over an on-campus appearance by filmmaker Michael Moore, trustees balked at the class, saying they feared liberal-leaning professors might push their personal points of view.
"I can see the concern. The worry is the definition is so broad it could be anybody's point of view about these issues," UVSC President Bill Sederburg told the trustees, assuring them that professors can be removed from teaching courses after student complaints.
Sederburg said he's happy to have the course sent back and retooled. A committee worked about five years on the proposal presented to trustees, he said.
Global/intercultural courses are intended to replace students' stereotypes with recognition of the complexity of different ethnic and religious groups, with a goal of the curriculum to include developing an appreciation for the contributions of different groups and learning to respectfully relate to different people.
For example, in a pilot program tried last year, UVSC offered an introductory anthropology course, world dance classes and an English course that focused on world religions.
"Our world is getting increasingly interconnected," said Bill Evenson, the School of Science and Health's associate dean, who presented the proposal to the trustees last week. "We want to make sure our students are prepared."
Some trustees expressed support for the idea, but said they wanted to see the outline of specific courses. But those courses - about 25 of them - wouldn't be developed until after the requirement is approved by trustees, Evenson said.