Political science major reduces requirements

The Department of Political Science announced Tuesday that it will reduce its upper division unit requirement from 56 to 40 units, effective Spring 2010.

The department removed the Allied Field requirement from the major to make it easier for students to complete the program, said James Bondurant, a political science academic adviser.

The Allied Field requirement, a part of many social science majors, requires political science students to take 16 units of upper division classes in other social science departments, Bondurant said.

“I didn’t really think it was a good idea. … I guess it was difficult for the students to get through the system in a timely manner,” Bondurant said.

This requirement was often difficult for students to complete because some departments restrict enrollment to majors during first pass, Bondurant said.

The political science department removed the requirement to give students more flexibility in how they spend their upper division units.

All students in the College of Letters and Science are still required to complete 180 units, 60 of which must be upper division, in order to graduate.

Stacy Ly, a third-year political science student, said she had mixed feelings about the change.

“I think it’s kind of unfair because they should have lowered (the requirement) before we signed up for classes,” she said. “Now that they lowered it, maybe it will be easier for us to graduate because there’s less requirements for our major.”

The Allied Field requirement allowed students to apply their major to other subjects, said Victor Salazar, a second-year political science student.

“Of course we’re going to enjoy (the reduction) in the short run,” Salazar said. “But I feel we’ll be less well-rounded as graduates.”

The change was made in line with the Challenge 45 program, an initiative focused on having academic departments remove nonessential requirements from their majors.

“We don’t say they have to be at 45 (units), but they have to think. … If they are at 75 units, perhaps they have prescribed too much,” said Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education Judith Smith.

Professor Edmond Keller, the chair of the political science department, said the decision to cut the Allied Field requirement from the major was a difficult one.

The department was searching for ways to “help students matriculate through the system quickly” in the wake of 32 percent fee increases, he said. Keller advised students to take advantage of the courses offered, although they may be less varied than past quarters.

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