The future of the Free Electives Act is uncertain amid debate over where the proposed changes in the curriculum should be made. 

The Free Electives Act was put to a vote in January and received a “non-veto” from Student Body President Rusty Mau, thus allowing the bill to stand. 

The FEA asks that the Colleges of Engineering, Textiles and Sciences offer their students more free electives so they can have the opportunity to pursue a minor outside of their respective college within a four year degree. 

The initial wording of the bill created debate in the Senate because it focuses on getting rid of required classes for science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors. SBP Mau allowed the bill to stand because, “the current GEP consists of 39 credit hour requirements, but limits course selection to specific category requirements. A program that comprises one third of the 120 credit hour curriculum should be flexible to students’ interests.”

The sponsors of the bill, Senators Kelly Elder, a junior studying political science, and Tyler Hatch, a senior studying aerospace engineering, plan to present the bill to administrators to start a discussion about offering more free electives in the colleges of engineering, textiles and sciences. 

Elder, the author of the bill, said that students in these majors do not have ample opportunity to pursue other interests outside of their college. As a political science major, Elder said she can take two minors and not be set back in graduation, while students in the sciences and engineering have no free electives and have to add extra hours to their course load.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily fair to students to not have their horizons expanded by learning different things or pursuing things like a minor to be more desirable in the working world,” Elder said. 

Louis Hunt, vice provost and University Registrar, agrees that the colleges identified in the FEA need more free electives, but he sees a different route in getting those electives. 

“We need free electives — every kid should have some free electives. In general, I think our GEP requirement is too prescriptive, it’s like, take three of these but not two from the same discipline. Is that really necessary?” Hunt said. “I’d like to see us pare that down a bit and add in some free electives.”

Michael Suguitan, a senior studying mechanical engineering, said that GEP courses have felt like a waste of time. 

“I’m definitely for [more free electives], there are lots of classes I wish I could’ve taken outside of engineering, but I think that, at least in mechanical, the course load is so heavy that we don’t have time to take electives within the major,” Suguitan said. “If they could scale back on GEP’s, which I have major problems with, and offer electives I think that would be great.”

Hunt sat on the committee that put together the current GEP several years ago. GEP requirements are defined at the university level whereas technical electives are defined by the respective major. 

“With the GEPs, most people are probably scared to open that up again and dig into it, I think we need to,” Hunt said. 

Hunt said he was skeptical of requiring two physical education courses and of the diversity and global knowledge co-requirements. He said he didn’t have a problem with diversity and global knowledge courses themselves, but he had a problem with the fact that their impact is cheapened by the way that these courses can be substituted. 

“I think a diversity requirement would be fine if it were an actual requirement versus a co-requirement,” Hunt said. “Take something else out [of the GEP] and say ‘here, we want you to take one of these diversity courses because we care about it,” Hunt said. 

 The challenge, according to Hunt, is accreditation. Every course at NC State is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), which is a regional educational standard. STEM majors have additional accreditation from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) accreditation which provides an international standard for STEM education. 

“Engineering [administrators] may say, ‘we need these [technical electives] because they’re for ABET accreditation,’ if that’s the case, the only way for the senate bill to get traction is to get free electives into the GEP without making the major bigger,” Hunt said. 

Student Body Vice President Devan Riley said altering the course curriculum in STEM majors could harm NC State’s reputation in those fields. 

Riley said the university has progressed to become one of the best-value universities in the country for engineering, and part of this is because of the strict curriculums for STEM majors, so any steps the university takes toward allowing more breadth in class selection could have consequences.

“All that being said, I serve the student body, and the senate has voted for this bill; therefore, it is my duty as an officer of the executive branch to try and see it through,” Riley said.

Throughout its history, NC State has expressed commitment to a liberal education. 

The bill calls on the university administrators to uphold their commitment to providing students a liberal education and quotes NC State’s Strategic Planning Overview which reads: “NC State was founded in 1887 to meet the needs of the people of North Carolina for a liberal and practical education in the several pursuits and professions in life.” 

NC State’s peer institutions in STEM programs have at least three hours for a free elective, whereas between textiles and engineering there are only three hours of free electives which are in the chemical engineering curriculum, according to the university registration and records website.