Students advocated creating one required course focusing on the concerns of underrepresented groups at last night's forum on mandatory diversity courses.

While supporting and praising the Faculty Senate's diversity requirement initiatives, students at the discussion were concerned the proposed curriculum change would not meet short-term intolerance problems. About 30 people attended the panel discussion, sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The senate subcommittee on cultural and race diversity is currently preparing legislation for a vote at the March 20 meeting.

Concerns about burdensome credit loads and the availability of qualified faculty prevented the senate subcommittee from proposing an additional three-credit, required diversity class, said Felix Lukezic and Jerry Covert, members of the senate committee on curricular affairs.

As it currently stands, the legislation will require students to take one three-credit, "diversity focused" course or four three-credit, "diversity enhanced" courses, Lukezic said.

While focused courses would concentrate on issues related to "racial, ethnic, gender and/or global perspectives," enhanced courses would devote 25 percent of time to such issues.

Neither option will require additional credits. Instead, the diversity courses would count as general education.

An audience member argued for replacing mandatory physical education courses with the diversity courses saying "our priorities are out of whack." La Verne Gyant, an instructor of black studies, said she has suggested a mandatory, one-credit class in human relations.

W. Terrell Jones interim vice provost for underrepresented groups said the student-advocated diversity course would be "selling yourselves short."

"Students should not be able to take one course and say, 'I'm done with the diversity class, now I can get back to real classes,' " Jones said.

The sensitivity and knowledge of particular faculty members will ultimately determine whether courses reflect many perspectives, agreed students and faculty at the forum.

Faculty workshops for sharing ideas on integration of courses and the hiring of sensitive faculty members are ways the University has been working to heighten faculty awareness, Covert said.

In order to encourage reluctant faculty, Jones said, the University must eventually tie sensitivity qualifications to tenure review.

The administration has recently added two questions concerning diversity concerns to the pool of optional questions for the Student Rating of Teacher Effectiveness, Covert said. Other than these SRTE forms used in tenure review, no other plans to link sensitivity to tenure review currently exist, he said.