The college does not currently accept DEI course credits from transfer students who come from previous institutions, but the Faculty Senate is considering a measure that would allow students to get credit.
In order to graduate from the college, students must fulfill six required credits through DEI courses offered through Columbia. Right now, only courses taken at Columbia count.
The college reduced its core requirements from 42 credits to 30, starting this fall. Students are still required to take courses in their major, minor, college-wide electives and the Columbia Core, but six of the credits must be from DEI courses.
Nathan Bakkum, senior associate provost and associate professor in the School of Audio and Music, told the Chronicle that the restructuring of the core prompted the discussion about the DEI courses.
“We have begun considering whether the college should begin accepting some transfer courses in fulfillment of the DEI requirement,” he said in an email.
Bakkum and Holly Herrera, associate provost for Transfer Initiatives and Academic Partnerships, proposed accepting DEI credit transfers from other institutions “in some limited cases” to the Academic Affairs Committee in the Faculty Senate.
Although the DEI courses from other institutions weren’t accepted before, Rojhat Avsar, president of Faculty Senate and associate professor in economics at the School of Communication and Culture, said the college is trying to be more “transfer receptive.”
Avsar said it may be challenging to assess DEI credits taught from other colleges due to not having complete access to some essential information, like DEI approaches and strategies used in teaching from a student’s previous institution.
“So we know we can see the description, we can see if it’s a required course, if there are any prerequisites but we don’t know really how that course has been taught,” Avsar said.
The Academic Affairs Committee will have time to discuss this proposal over the next few weeks, Bakkam said.
Students told the Chronicle they were concerned about what transfer credits are accepted even generally.
Mikayla Lerczak, a senior transfer fashion merchandising major, said she has taken all of her gen-ed courses at her previous school but has to take two more courses in order to complete her DEI requirements.
“That’s the most frustrating thing, but there hasn’t really been a workaround for it. I have to take those two required [courses],” Lerczak said.
Stephen Shaw, a junior transfer audio and arts major, took general education courses at their previous college, but when it comes to taking their DEI courses at the college, they said they “haven’t really looked at it too much.”
Shaw said when they spoke to their counselor about their required credits, they were told “everything would check out just fine” – including their DEI course requirement.
Maddie Hanke, a senior transfer social media and digital strategy major, said she was supposed to graduate in the spring, but her DEI course requirements not being fulfilled are keeping her from graduating until Fall 2025.
“I was a little frustrated at first when I found out because, originally, I was supposed to graduate this year,” Hanke said. “It’s kind of just like prolonging that.”
Copy edited by Vanessa Orozco
This story has been corrected to reflect that Rosita Sands, special advisor for Diversity Equity and Inclusion initiatives, was at the meeting as a guest speaker but was not involved in the transfer initiative proposal or discussion.
The headline has also been updated.
