Students are solely responsible for completing their cultural events requirements. Students who feel that they cannot fulfill the cultural requirement by graduation, for whatever reason, should discuss their situation with the Coordinator for Cultural Events (Office of Records and Registration) who can work with them and advise them on the options available to them. Students anticipating this situation should contact the Cultural Events Office as early in their college career as possible so as to allow maximum opportunities to work on the problem.

The Cultural Events Committee

The Cultural Events Committee consists of eight members plus the Coordinator for Cultural Events in an ex-officio capacity.  The committee is made up of six members of the Winthrop faculty, appointed by the office of the Academic Vice-President, and two student members, selected by the Winthrop Council of Student Leaders.  The committee's job is to select events as approved cultural events and to approve or deny credit for cultural events petitions and portfolios, making decisions regarding the number of cultural events credits to be awarded on travel petitions and on portfolios.  The committee meets once a month to consider these items.  The committee generally meets mid-month (around the 15th) each month.  The chair of the Cultural Events Committee for the 2007-2008 academic year is Jack DeRochi, English Department.  If you have concerns or problems you should contact the Coordinator for Cultural Events (in the Office of Records and Registration) before contacting the chair of the Cultural Events Committee.

Background and History of the Cultural Events Requirement

The Cultural Events Requirement was adopted as an academic requirement by the Winthrop Faculty Conference in 1984 at the suggestion of the president at that time, Phil Lader.  The proposal was adopted because the president and the faculty felt that exposure to culture was an important part of a well educated and well rounded individual and that, in general, Winthrop students did not enter the University with such exposure in their past.  The faculty conference hoped that by instituting this requirement they would change the students' perceptions of culture, open them up to new experiences, and provide a pattern for future involvement in such activities.  The original requirement adopted called for a maximum of 24 events over the course of a student's undergraduate career at Winthrop.  The Cultural Events Committee was established at the same to time oversee the selection of approved events.  All events selected were arts related and were on-campus events.  The number of approved events each semester was very small, around 25.  The logistics of keeping track of attendance for each event was the responsibility of the student development office.  

Around 1989 the definition of a cultural event was expanded to allow for the inclusion of lectures, particularly when such lectures involved a respected and renowned speaker.   The petition process was instituted in 1991 to allow students to gain credit for events off-campus.  During this time period the number of approved cultural events each semester rose to around 45.  In the fall of 1992 a new, part-time position was created, the Coordinator for Cultural Events, and a Cultural Events Office was established.  The Coordinator and the office took over the responsibility for dealing with the logistics of the cultural events requirement, monitoring attendance, making the calendar of events available, coordinating changes, etc.  The Cultural Events Office was initially part of the College of Visual and Performing Arts but was later shifted to the Office of the Vice-President for Academic Affairs, and then University College.  It is now part of the Office of Records and Registration.  This office now serves as the primary contact for everyone concerning the cultural events requirement.  Students with questions or concerns about their attendance records, the calendar, or the requirement in general; sponsors of events; those submitting petitions and portfolios; and many other cultural events related items can now take their concerns to the Office of Records and Registration.

The portfolio process, for the non-traditional student, was officially put in place in 1998.  At the same time, after two years of consideration, the faculty conference reaffirmed their support for the cultural events requirement but reduced the maximum number of events required to 18 (from 24).