Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

LEGISLATIVE GENERAL COUNSEL                                            S.B. 226
       6 Approved for Filing: S. Elder 6                            1st Sub. (Green)
         6 02-15-24 9:27 AM 6
                          Senator John D. Johnson proposes the following substitute bill:
                         SCHOOL OF GENERAL EDUCATION ACT
                                        2024 GENERAL SESSION
                                            STATE OF UTAH
                                 Chief Sponsor: John D. Johnson
                                   House Sponsor: ____________
 6
 LONG TITLE
 General Description:
         This bill modifies higher education general education requirements by establishing an
 independent School of General Education within the University of Utah.
 Highlighted Provisions:
         This bill:
         < defines terms;
         < establishes the independent School of General Education within the University of
 Utah system;
         < outlines the purpose, curriculum focus, responsibilities, and administration of the
 School of General Education;
         < requires undergraduate students at the University of Utah to complete a 42-credit
 hour common core curriculum;
         < exempts the core curriculum from administrative policies on course content; and       1st Sub. S.B. 226
         < assigns the University of Utah board of trustees reporting and implementation
 responsibilities.
 Money Appropriated in this Bill:
         None
 Other Special Clauses:
     *SB0226S01*
       1st Sub. (Green) S.B. 226                                              02-15-24 9:27 AM
        This bill provides a special effective date.
 Utah Code Sections Affected:
 AMENDS:
        53E-1-201, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2023, Chapters 1, 328 and 380
 ENACTS:
        53B-17-1501, Utah Code Annotated 1953
        53B-17-1502, Utah Code Annotated 1953
        53B-17-1503, Utah Code Annotated 1953
        53B-17-1504, Utah Code Annotated 1953
        53B-17-1505, Utah Code Annotated 1953
        53B-17-1506, Utah Code Annotated 1953
        53B-17-1507, Utah Code Annotated 1953
        53B-17-1508, Utah Code Annotated 1953
        53B-17-1509, Utah Code Annotated 1953
40
 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
        Section 1. Section 53B-17-1501 is enacted to read:
        53B-17-1501. Definitions.
        (1) "Board of trustees" means the University of Utah board of trustees established
 under Section 53B-2-103.
        (2) "Core curriculum" means the required undergraduate general education courses
 established in Section 53B-17-1504 that students must complete to earn an associate or
 bachelor's degree.
        (3) "Dean" means the dean of the School of General Education, appointed under
 Section 53B-17-1503.
        (4) "School of General Education" means the School of General Education unit created
 within the University of Utah in Section 53B-17-1502 that is responsible for teaching most
 general education courses.
        (5) "Student" means an individual enrolled in an associate or bachelor's degree
 program at the University of Utah.
        Section 2. Section 53B-17-1502 is enacted to read:
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       02-15-24 9:27 AM                                                     1st Sub. (Green) S.B. 226
         53B-17-1502. School of General Education -- Establishment.
         (1) There is established within the University of Utah the School of General Education
 as an independent academic unit.
         (2) The purposes of the School of General Education are to:
         (a) educate students:
         (i) through the books and major debates which form the intellectual foundations of free
 countries, especially that of the United States;
         (ii) through the principles, ideals, and institutions of law, liberty, and civic virtue that
 underpin the American constitutional order;
         (iii) on the foundations of public-spirited leadership and informed citizenship;
         (iv) on the books, major debates, history, and culture that have shaped ways of life and
 belief in western culture, especially the enduring culture of liberty;
         (b) conduct teaching and research on the western tradition of liberal education, from
 ancient Greece to current theory and practice in the United States of America and Europe; and
         (c) focus on best extending the tradition of classic liberal education to current
 undergraduate general education and secondary and continuing education.
         Section 3. Section 53B-17-1503 is enacted to read:
         53B-17-1503. School of General Education -- Duties and authority.
         (1) The School of General Education shall:
         (a) establish bylaws consistent with the purposes stated in Section 53B-17-1502;
         (b) offer instruction in topics aligned with the stated purposes, including:
         (i) core curriculum general education courses designated to the school;
         (ii) foundational texts and debates that have shaped western political and intellectual
 traditions;
         (iii) the theory and practice of liberal arts education; and
         (iv) extension of liberal education to secondary and continuing education.
         (2) The School of General Education has authority to:
         (a) offer courses;
         (b) develop programs leading to certificates, minors, majors, and graduate degrees;
         (c) offer undergraduate and graduate degrees;
         (d) appoint:
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        1st Sub. (Green) S.B. 226                                                  02-15-24 9:27 AM
         (i) tenure track faculty;
         (ii) lecturers; and
         (iii) adjunct faculty; and
         (e) offer teaching positions to graduate students.
         Section 4. Section 53B-17-1504 is enacted to read:
         53B-17-1504. Appointment of dean -- Authority of dean -- Duties.
         (1) (a) Before June 1, 2025, and subject to approval by the board of trustees, the
 university president will hire the dean.
         (b) The university president is solely responsible for the hiring of the dean.
         (2) The dean reports directly to the university president.
         (3) The dean has authority to:
         (a) manage the recruitment and hiring process for School of General Education faculty
 and staff;
         (b) extend employment offers, subject to approval by the university president and the
 board of trustees;
         (c) approve voluntary joint faculty appointments from other university departments for
 a term of up to three years, renewable at the discretion of the dean;
         (d) oversee and approve the School of General Education's curriculum developed by
 the faculty; and
         (e) ensure general education courses taught by the School of General Education faculty
 are consistent with this chapter.
         (4) Subject to approval by the board of trustees, each academic year the dean shall
 propose the number of positions for:
         (a) tenure-track faculty;
         (b) lecturers;
         (c) adjunct faculty; and
         (d) graduate assistants.
         Section 5. Section 53B-17-1505 is enacted to read:
         53B-17-1505. Faculty.
         (1) Faculty appointed to the School of General Education may, but are not required to,
 hold joint appointments within other university departments.
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       02-15-24 9:27 AM                                                 1st Sub. (Green) S.B. 226
        (2) University of Utah faculty outside the School of General Education may not:
        (a) block faculty hires or appointments into the School of General Education; or
        (b) block the granting of tenure, promotion, or other conditions of employment for
 School of General Education faculty.
        (3) Only faculty with appointments in the School of General Education may teach
 general education courses outside the areas of science, mathematics, economics, or foreign
 language.
        Section 6. Section 53B-17-1506 is enacted to read:
        53B-17-1506. Core curriculum -- General education requirements.
        (1) To earn an associate or bachelor's degree from the University of Utah, students
 shall complete a 42-credit hour core curriculum, including:
        (a) a three semester credit hour course in rhetoric and English composition that
 includes:
        (i) grammar;
        (ii) logic;
        (iii) rhetoric; and
        (iv) substantial readings from classic works from a variety of eras devoted to rhetoric
 and composition;
        (b) a three semester credit hour mathematics course, which may only be one of the
 following:
        (i) precalculus;
        (ii) mathematical logic;
        (iii) probability;
        (iv) introduction to statistics; or
        (v) calculus;
        (c) a four semester credit hour laboratory science course, which may only be one of the
 following:
        (i) introduction to biology;
        (ii) introduction to chemistry; or
        (iii) introduction to physics;
        (d) a three semester credit hour course in Western history covering the time period
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        1st Sub. (Green) S.B. 226                                                 02-15-24 9:27 AM
 from 3000 B.C. to 1450 that includes a broad survey with concentration on:
        (i) Athens and the Greek polis to 404 B.C.;
        (ii) the Roman Republic and Empire;
        (iii) the rise of Christianity;
        (iv) medieval Western Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries; and
        (v) medieval English legal and constitutional history;
        (e) a three semester credit hour course in Western history covering the time period
 from 1450 to 2000 that includes a broad survey with concentration on:
        (i) the Renaissance;
        (ii) the Reformation;
        (iii) the development of parliamentary democracy in Britain;
        (iv) the French Revolution;
        (v) the Industrial Revolution in Britain;
        (vi) Western science; and
        (vii) the rise and fall of the Soviet state and Nazi Germany in the 20th century;
        (f) a three semester credit hour course in United States history covering the time period
 from 1607 to 1877 that includes a broad survey exploring:
        (i) the development of the United States of America's republican form of government
 from the colonial period through 1877;
        (ii) issues of politics, economics, technological progress, war, and foreign policy; and
        (iii) a comparison between the progress of democratic representation in the United
 States and the rest of the world;
        (g) a three semester credit hour course in United States government that explores:
        (i) founding principles of natural rights, liberty, equality, representative democracy,
 separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, and constitutional self-government; and
        (ii) how those principles have played out over the United States' history, chiefly
 through the study of original source documents that established and explained the United
 States' independence and the United States Constitution, and later documents that illustrate the
 United States' constitutional history and structure;
        (h) a three semester credit hour course in United States literature covering 1607
 through 1914 that includes substantial selections from works considered to be of first-rank
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        02-15-24 9:27 AM                                                 1st Sub. (Green) S.B. 226
 literary quality and of enduring literary influence;
        (i) a three semester credit hour introduction to economics course that includes
 instruction on:
        (i) supply and demand;
        (ii) market competition;
        (iii) economic growth;
        (iv) trade;
        (v) taxation;
        (vi) externalities; and
        (vii) public goods;
        (j) a three semester credit hour course, which may be one of the following:
        (i) a course on founding ideas of Western liberty that includes substantial selections
 from 17th through 19th century works on:
        (A) political, religious, and economic liberty;
        (B) common law;
        (C) the nature of republican government; and
        (D) the American fusion of liberty, republican government, civic virtue, and
 democracy;
        (ii) a course on founding traditions of Western art that explores the history of Western
 fine arts from ancient Greece to the 20th century and exposes students to the study of
 exemplary masterpieces of Western fine arts in genres including music, painting, sculpture, and
 architecture; or
        (iii) a course on founding ideas of Western economics that explores 18th through 20th
 century influential works of economic theory;
        (k) a four semester credit hour course in Western humanities covering 1000 B.C.
 through 1450 that includes:
        (i) substantial selections from works considered to be of first-rank literary quality and
 of enduring literary and philosophical influence;
        (ii) readings from the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, Homeric epic, Greek
 philosophy, Greek tragedy, and medieval literature; and
        (iii) a one semester credit hour component of English composition that aims to instruct
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        1st Sub. (Green) S.B. 226                                                     02-15-24 9:27 AM
 students to produce correct and lucid academic writing on the works taught in the course;
           (l) a four semester credit hour course in Western humanities covering 1450 through
 1950 that includes:
           (i) substantial selections from works considered to be of first-rank literary quality and
 of enduring literary and philosophical influence;
           (ii) readings of Catholic and Protestant religious literature, drama, essays, poetry, and
 novels;
           (iii) approximately equal coverage of each of the five centuries between 1450 and
 1950; and
           (iv) a one semester credit hour component of English composition that aims to instruct
 students to produce correct and lucid academic writing on the works taught in the course; and
           (m) a three semester credit hour world civilizations course that:
           (i) is a broad survey covering the distinctive history, culture, literature, and social
 structure of at least four nations or culture areas outside the United States, to be selected from
 among:
           (A) China;
           (B) India;
           (C) the Middle East;
           (D) Africa;
           (E) Latin America;
           (F) Russia;
           (G) Japan; and
           (H) Southeast Asia; and
           (ii) permits concentration on a representative country or countries if a given culture
 area is under consideration.
           (2) As appropriate, humanities and social science general education courses shall
 highlight the theme of Western liberty and republican self-government, including:
           (a) historical sources;
           (b) strengths and weaknesses;
           (c) 20th century challenges from communism and fascism;
           (d) contrasts with non-Western systems of government;
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       02-15-24 9:27 AM                                                   1st Sub. (Green) S.B. 226
        (e) distinctive features in the United States; and
        (f) spread beyond the West.
        (3) The required core curriculum outlined in Subsection (1) is the only general
 education requirement for associate and bachelor's degrees, except that:
        (a) the board of trustees may additionally require three to six foreign language credits
 for bachelor's degree students;
        (b) more advanced alternatives may be approved to satisfy the laboratory science
 requirement for bachelor of science degrees; and
        (c) students seeking to obtain bachelors of science degrees may choose to be exempted
 from the following course requirements:
        (i) the course described in Subsection 53B-17-506(1)(l); and
        (ii) the courses described in Subsection 53B-17-506(1)(j).
        (4) Core curriculum courses shall not include, require, or award credit for student
 participation in civic advocacy, lobbying, or public policy activism.
        (5) (a) As directed by the dean, the School of General Education shall develop
 consistent learning outcomes for the core curriculum.
        (b) The learning outcomes developed under Subsection (5)(a) are exempted from
 external University of Utah administrative policies that affect course content.
        (6) The School of General Education dean may approve satisfaction of core curriculum
 requirements using early college credit options.
        Section 7. Section 53B-17-1507 is enacted to read:
        53B-17-1507. Transition of ge