A new general education requirement focused on civic discourse will be added to all SUNY campuses beginning in the fall 2026 semester.
This new requirement was established to strengthen students’ ability to engage in conversations involving conflicting viewpoints. According to a SUNY press release, it aims to help students examine and deliberate new ideas. Existing literacy requirements will also be updated to include information regarding artificial intelligence.
These requirements will be mandatory for incoming freshmen in undergraduate programs, while students already in the SUNY system are unaffected by this curriculum change.
In an article published in WXXI, a Rochester-area news station, Candice Vacin, the president of the Faculty Council of Community Colleges and SUNY Trustees, described the importance of adding civic discourse and revamped information literacy skills in response to newly emerging A.I. technologies.
“Updating the framework to include civic discourse and a literacy component to reflect the rise in artificial intelligence is essential,” Vacin said. “These updates will ensure our students are thoughtfully engaging with diverse perspectives, while also learning to navigate and assess the growing impact of artificial intelligence in our society.”
Officials said the general education requirements shifted in response to the rise of A.I.
SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. expressed his hope that every student at SUNY will soon be expected to have the knowledge and skills for respectful discourse and that students will have the skills to utilize and navigate the emerging technologies surrounding A.I.
“SUNY is committed to academic excellence, which includes a robust general education curriculum,” King said. “We are proud that every SUNY student will be expected to demonstrate the knowledge and skills that advance respectful and reasoned discourse, and that we will help our students recognize and ethically use AI as they consider various information sources.”
The changes will be developed in a two-step process, beginning with individual campus development before going systemwide. When finally implemented across all SUNY campuses, all incoming students must take a civic discourse class as part of their graduation requirements.
The process of creating the new civic discourse requirement began in June 2024 when a working group organized by the SUNY provost convened to evaluate possible improvements to the system’s core general education classes. After the draft was completed and revised, it was presented and approved by the SUNY Board of Trustees in December. Individual campuses can incorporate the changes early, but they become mandatory in fall 2026.
“Binghamton University has a group of faculty and staff who will be working together this spring to determine exactly how these new requirements will be implemented,” wrote Donald Loewen, the University’s vice provost for undergraduate education and enrollment management. “One goal that we worked towards in our campus implementation of the Fall 2024 SUNY General Education revisions was to make it possible for students to fulfill the requirements without adding additional credits to their degree programs. We’ll be doing our best to follow a similar approach this time.”
“The new requirement will be applicable to students who start at a SUNY campus in Fall 2026 or later, so it won’t be a requirement for current students but we anticipate that they’ll have the opportunity to take courses with these learning outcomes as they enter the curriculum,” he added.
Anthony Kennedy, a freshman, shared his opinion on the new addition as a computer science major, saying it centers around his course of study.
“A.I. also kind of plays a part in everyone’s life now whether you’re involved with majoring in something in technology or not,” Kennedy said. “I guess it is a good add-on, but at the same time, it’s also another gen ed, so you’re gonna have to take another gen ed. You can’t take more major-specific courses right away, which will probably bother some people, but I wouldn’t mind it just because I’m a computer science major.”