By
Marianne Green
Arizona Summer Wildcat
The Undergraduate Council decided that "double dipping" - the practice of using the same course to meet requirements in more than one program - should not be restricted in undergraduate programs, but individual colleges still have the option of prohibiting it.
"It should be allowed," said Omer Chaudhary, a management and information systems junior. "Otherwise a student would need 240 units to graduate with two degrees."
The issue was raised at an Undergraduate Council meeting in May because faculty and academic advisers were questioning large numbers of electives in some students' programs.
Students can reuse credits to fulfill degrees with similar requirements, said Randy Richardson, interim vice president of undergraduate education.
"The concern is that it calls into question the academic integrity of a degree," Richardson said.
The academic integrity of the degree may be impaired when a student could receive two degrees or a minor simply by taking a few additional courses, he added.
Richardson also stressed that the council's vote does not impact existing college policies that limit double dipping, or the 1998 policy limiting the use of general education courses to meet major and minor requirements.
"I have to take so many chemistry courses for my major that my minor (in chemistry) just happened," said Sara Leathers, a junior majoring in medical technology.
However, Leathers is still concerned about whether she will get a minor in chemistry because of the double dipping policy within her college.
"Some advisers tell me I will have the minor and some say I won't," Leathers said. "I guess I will see when I graduate."
In the sciences, biochemistry and chemistry have such a significant overlapping of courses that two degrees can be achieved easily, Richardson said.
Many programs in the business school have similar overlapping.
MIS and operations management degrees are so similar that a student would only need two extra courses to fulfill both, Chaudhary said.
Students should be able to receive two degrees based on their studies and not the units of courses they've taken, he added.
"(The university) is looking at the numbers instead of the courses," Chaudhary said. "They should focus on the courses and if you met the degree requirement subject-wise, not number-wise."
The council voted that no university-wide policy should be created, saying that individual colleges should have free reign on what can fulfill a degree requirement because the colleges have different goals for their degree candidates, Richardson said.
"There needs to be a gray area for double dipping to work," Chaudhary said. "Otherwise students will misuse (double dipping). They would look for shortcuts in the system."
