Members of Binghamton University’s Student Assembly are opposing a proposed change to the economics minor requirement.

BU’s economics department has proposed to add Math 221, Calculus I to the required course list for its minor program. The change would increase the number of required courses from six to seven — a change the department considers to be nominal. Economics students have traditionally taken calculus, as it is an existing prerequisite for Microeconomic Theory, a required course for the minor.

“We are trying to make things a little more transparent so students don’t get surprised,” said Clifford Kern, chairman of the economics department. “Some students do not realize until their junior or senior years that they need to take calculus in order to register for upper-level minor requirements.”

Members of the Student Association believe the change will not benefit students. Before the proposal was made, students had the choice of taking calculus with the pass-fail grading option. However, a class cannot fulfill minor or major requirements if it is taken-pass fail. If the curriculum change is approved, economics minors would be forced to take calculus for a letter grade.

The economics department submitted the proposal to the Harpur College Council for review, where it was passed by the Curriculum Committee. The Curriculum Committee is one of several different bodies within HCC. But SA members say that the approval of the Curriculum Committee alone isn’t enough to pass the proposal.

“The procedure is in violation of the HCC bylaws, and I will file a grievance if I have to,” said Matt Landau, SA vice president for academic affairs and member of the Curriculum Committee.

Landau said that HCC as a whole must approve such a change in curriculum, and plans to petition the HCC for a council-wide vote on the matter.

A resolution condemning the council’s actions was passed in last night’s Assembly meeting with 95 percent in favor.

The HCC has the power to send the issue back to the Curriculum Committee, where it will either be revised or thrown out. If the revision is eventually approved, it will be incorporated into the University Bulletin over the summer, and go into effect for the fall semester. Changes would be applied to incoming freshmen, but would not have any effect on students already enrolled at BU.

“This was not supposed to be a controversial thing,” said Jennifer Jensen, associate dean of Academic Affairs and chairperson of the Curriculum Committee.

The HCC is almost unanimously in support of the change, Jensen added, and said she believes it will be officially passed.