Dear Colleagues:
I am writing to share an update and to invite you to submit course proposals by November 1 to meet the new UNC System requirement regarding “Foundations of American Democracy,” for courses offered beginning in fall 2025.
As a reminder, 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 meet the stated learning objectives.
The ad hoc advisory committee that I formed to advise on how to administer this requirement — and how to integrate it into our existing IDEAs in Action curriculum — submitted its report to the General Education Oversight Committee, and it was approved on August 23. After an interim report to the Faculty Council at its September 13 meeting, the proposal will now undergo review by the Educational Policy Committee.
We are now encouraging you to submit course proposals to help us meet this requirement. We have set up a page on the Office of Undergraduate Curricula website to make this process easier, to share helpful information and updates, and for you to submit proposals.
We are very excited to see some creative course proposals already being discussed, including a dramatic art course on “Theatre, Law and American Values” and a music course on “Hamilton and History: Recasting the Past.” We encourage you to think creatively about course proposals that will help us meet this requirement. Please contact Ian F. McNeely, Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, if you have any questions or ideas about Foundations of American Democracy courses.
Course syllabi for the new FAD requirement must meet the following learning outcomes, expanding beyond the original two listed in the Board of Governors’ amendments to the UNC Policy Manual:
- Identify and analyze the political, historical and cultural impact of founding documents on governance and democracy in America.
- Identify and analyze the political, historical and cultural impact of key milestones in American history on the evolution of democratic republicanism in America.
- Evaluate key concepts, principles, arguments and contexts in founding documents of the American republic, including the United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and a representative selection of the Federalist Papers. [BOG outcome #1]
- Evaluate key milestones in progress and challenges in the effort to form “a more perfect Union,” including the arguments and contexts surrounding the Gettysburg Address, the Emancipation Proclamation and the Letter from Birmingham Jail, as well as other texts that reflect the breadth of American experiences. [BOG outcome #2]
*Note that an FAD course can certainly have other learning objectives so long as the four prescribed objectives above are threaded throughout the syllabus.
Again, the course proposal submission form is found on the new web page. You will see we have developed a phased course proposal deadline approach for future classes — beyond fall 2025 — to help us continue to meet this need.
Sincerely,
Jim
James W.C. White
Craver Family Dean
College of Arts and Sciences