SP 15-06 - Policy on Academic Minors (supersedes SP 04-29)

Approve Date: March 29, 2016
Effective Date: Fall 2016
Policy File:
SP 15-06 Policy on Academic Minors (supersedes SP 04-29)

Drafted By: Curriculum Committee 2014-15: Jared Barton, Geoffrey Buhl, Blake Büller, Gina Farrar, Blake Gillespie (co-chair), Karen Jensen, Todd Oberson, Alison Perchuk (co-chair), Monica Pereira, Jennifer Perry, Janet Rizzoli, Rosa Rodriguez.
Purpose: Supersedes SP 04-29 “Policy on Minors”; updates the campus definition of a minor in the absence of Title V/Chancellor’s Office directives; provides additional guidance for curricular development encompassing minors.

Background: Prior policies established minimum characteristics of a minor and addressed students majoring and minoring in the same program area, but no policy offered conceptual guidance for the creation of a minor or normative maximum characteristics of a minor.

Accountability: Academic Affairs.

Applicability: All CSU Channel Islands undergraduate students.

Definition(s):

Discipline: Area of study within a Program (e.g., Art History, Economics)
Minor: A coherent program of study completed by an undergraduate student in addition to her or his major program of study.
Program: Academic unit responsible for administering one or more disciplines.
Program of Study: A set of courses taken by an individual student as leading to a major (including emphasis, option, concentration), minor, or certificate.

Policy:
A. Units within a Minor

Minimum total units: A minor must contain a minimum of fifteen (15) units.
Minimum upper-division units: A minor must contain a minimum of six (6) upper-division units.
Prerequisites: The unit count for a minor must include all prerequisite courses needed to complete the minor. Proposers should note whenever elective courses require prerequisites not contained within the minor. The units for prerequisites for optional courses not required for the minor need not be included.

B. Approvals

Minors must obtain the approvals required by CI’s academic planning process.

C. Restrictions on Minors: Students may declare any minor offered by the university, with the following restrictions.

In order to declare a minor, a student must have a declared major.
Students may not receive a minor in a discipline in which they are majoring.
Students may major in one discipline and minor in a different discipline, even if both disciplines are offered by the same Program. Programs may specify in the catalog when this is allowed by indicating the permissible major and minor combinations.

D. Other

No undergraduate student shall be required to complete a minor as a requirement for the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, or other undergraduate degree.