The Ashland University Faculty Senate passed a motion by a vote of 25-15 that will bring major modifications to the Core starting in the Fall 2016 semester.

There were two Core areas where changes were made, those areas being Lifetime Wellness and Global Passport Strategies, or GPS as it is commonly called. There were many other behind-the-scenes Core changes made, such as which departments have control over various areas of the Core and other implementation issues, included in these changes.

Lifetime Wellness has been removed from the Core entirely. This does not mean the course has been eliminated from being offered at the university. What it does mean, though, is that will no longer be a requirement for every student at AU to take, starting with the Fall 2016 catalog.

As for GPS, it was renamed in the new Core as Critical Cultural Inquiry, or CCI, and has different requirements than what was needed in GPS.

Under the current GPS system, students have to choose one of the three available paths: the modern language track, the global studies track and the travel track.

For the modern language track, six credit hours of a language previously not studied is required.

The global studies track requires a border crossing class as well as one of three study options, these study options being a three-hour course with study away and GPS narrative, a three-hour course with experience and GPS narrative, or two additional border crossings courses, which is six hours.

Under the travel track, students have to study abroad for at least weeks, earn a minimum of six credits and complete a GPS Narrative.

In the new CCI configuration, GPS will be replaced with a requirement of just three hours, consisting of one of three options: one three-credit language course, a three-credit CCI course that will be developed by the Foreign Language Department, or one approved study-abroad or study-away experience.

During the Faculty Senate meeting on Friday, where the new Core was passed, there was discussion on if the new Core should be implemented staring fall of 2017 instead of the upcoming fall semester.

However, it was brought up that the Faculty Senate was trying to make changes to the Core last year, but decided to push it to next year. So instead of pushing it yet another year, it was decided that the new core would take effect in fall of 2016.

Students who currently attend Ashland will still have to abide by the current core, while the new core would be what incoming students will follow.

This new core will now go to the university’s Board of Trustees and must be passed by them before it can become official.