You could say Stephen Torres works pretty hard.
As an employee of the Multicultural Information Center and a member of the Latino Leadership Council, Torres has been instrumental in planning student-led, diversity-focused programs, including Campus Fusion.
He is also planning this fall's CHANGE institute, which encourages discussion of racism and homophobia among members of the Greek community, and he is a facilitator for a discussion class on gender discrimination.
It's a shame that 218 advisers to the University want him gone.
Torres has taken five years to complete his undergraduate degree in Mexican-American studies. Like most students, he has oscillated between 12 and 15 hours per semester and has focused much of his spare time on work with the MIC, his fraternity and various other programs.
This fall, he is taking 13 hours - almost exactly the average course load for a UT undergrad. Thirteen is also a number that the Commission of 125 finds "unacceptable."
The commission's report, released last week, stated, "Bachelor's degrees should be completed in four years unless otherwise required by the degree plan or by extenuating circumstances."
The University has seen such recommendations before.Last January, the Task Force on Enrollment Strategy proposed a five-year limit on time spent studying for an undergraduate degree. The commission's statements could be seen as an endorsement of such restrictions.
In discussing the University's poor four-year graduation rate, task force chairwoman Isabella Cunningham said, "Some of our problem has to do with students that change their major..."
Torres is part of that "problem."
He came to the University as an electrical engineering major after exhibiting strong math and science skills in high school. But he joined Sigma Lambda Beta, a Latino fraternity, and "came to recognize a lot of things that were more interesting."
He became more involved with the UT Mexican-American community, leaving engineering for ethnic studies after two years. Torres is not the only student whose interests made such a dramatic shift.
"There aren't a lot of people that come into the University that want to major in Mexican-American studies," he said.
There are many stories like Torres', but few would show up on rankings regarding four-year graduation rates and average course loads. And few would be possible under the policies proposed by the Commission of 125 and the Task Force on Enrollment Strategy.
UT President Larry Faulkner is expected to talk about both documents at the State of the University Address on Wednesday night.
He should remember that the hardest-working students do not always have the heaviest course loads.
Be the first to comment on this article!