The Faculty Senate formed a committee Friday to review the undergraduate curriculum at GW. This committee comes out of a resolution passed by the senate in February that said the four-by-four plan should not be adopted at that time, as there was little evidence it would improve academics and cut costs.

In a four-by-four model, students would take four classes a semester, worth four credits each, as opposed to the current five-by-three model. In the proposed model, students may ultimately spend less time in class, which was a criticism of the plan by the Faculty Senate.

The resolution states, “The Steering Committee on Undergraduate Curriculum Review should issue recommendations for revisions to that curriculum consistent with the University’s stated aspirations for academic excellence.”

The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences and the Elliott School of International Affairs passed separate resolutions last spring to push off the vote on the four-by-four plan until the schools were able to complete a curriculum review.

The committee is an attempt by the Faculty Senate to consolidate the effort to reform the undergraduate curriculum at GW. Schools may consider changing the general curriculum requirements or classes required for a major.

“Some faculty had already voted by department to do this curriculum review,” said Lillen Robinson, chair of the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate. “We need to work on this (curriculum review) together.”

The committee will consist of the deans of the University’s schools, five faculty members elected by the Faculty Senate and one faculty member from each school appointed by its dean.

Committee members will work with the existing curriculum review committees in each of the schools.