Update on Foundations of American Democracy courses

In early June I wrote you about how we intended to meet the new requirement for UNC System schools to teach a course covering the foundations of American democracy. I promised to keep you apprised of developments, which is why I am writing today.

As a refresher, the Board of Governors did not prescribe a specific course that students must take but gave each university discretion to offer a variety of courses as long as they met the stated learning objectives.

As described in my earlier communication, I formed an ad hoc advisory committee made up of College faculty to make recommendations on how to administer this course and integrate it into the existing IDEAs in Action curriculum. The committee met three times this summer, with the final meeting taking place in late July.

The committee developed draft learning outcomes, expanding beyond the two listed in the Board of Governors’ amendments to the UNC Policy Manual, and made additional recommendations for the courses. The recommendations have been submitted to the General Education Oversight Committee, which oversees the IDEAs in Action core curriculum. Amendments to the curriculum will come from the GEOC to the Educational Policy Committee, which will consider them for support at Faculty Council. (This process follows the procedures outlined in the IDEAs in Action curriculum that was approved in 2019.)  I met this week with Beth Moracco, chair of the faculty, to review this plan of action, and she has invited me to discuss the new course at a Faculty Council meeting this fall.

I will share with you the committee’s report and the learning outcomes when they have been formally approved. With the finalized learning outcomes in hand, we will then be issuing a formal call for proposals for faculty to develop new Foundations of American Democracy courses. Although we currently offer several courses that are likely to qualify for satisfying the requirement, we will need many more, as this requirement will need to be met by all new Carolina students beginning in fall 2025.