WORTH THE COST
UIS’s Engaged Citizenship Common Experience curriculum is a very small requirement and I found it to be a valuable experience (“Diversity curriculum still debated,” March 10). I think the perspectives and information you are exposed to make people think beyond themselves as well as challenging ideas about the world.
I don’t always agree with the choices made at UIS about curriculum or policy, but the ECCE requirement is a very small but valuable part of the degree. Faculty should have input, but it is too easy for the colleges to undermine the purpose of the requirement if they are allowed to just designate courses within their own college as satisfying the requirement. If anything, colleges should be allowed to propose courses that could fulfill aspects of the requirement and a committee could evaluate the curriculum and decide what courses meet the bar for ECCE.
Rebecca Jo Luke
Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes
BIG EXPENSE
Assuming these nine hours of ECCE are standard tuition rate, I would prefer studying nine hours in my major. Per the UIS website, 2022 tuition, fees and assessments are $332.25 per hour, or $2,990.25 for nine hours. I would call that a substantial expense.
Val Ross
Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes
A TRUE STAR
We were so pleased and surprised to see the article on Marissa Jo Cerar (“From here to Hollywood,” March 10). My husband Don’s mother was the oldest child in the Cerar family, and Marissa’s father, George, was the youngest.
The article was very well written. I have been notifying everyone I can think of to tell them about the article. I picked up several copies of the issue. Â
Besides being very talented, Marissa Jo is full of energy and very good to her parents.
Carole Walton
Springfield
PROUD PARENTS
Congratulations to Marissa! I know her parents, George and Rita, are so proud.
Stacey Hollis Stufflebeam
Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes
NICE TRIBUTE
Thank you to Scott Reeder for sharing a loving tribute about his brother, Danny (“Why I weep when I hear “Danny Boy,”” March 3). I always look forward to and enjoy reading his columns. Sara Lopinski Springfield
HELP STUDENTS
I’m not sure what the answer is, but my grandmother and other family members in Wayne County, Illinois, supported Lincoln Christian when it was a college (“End of an era: Lincoln Christian University shifts focus to maintain viability,” March 10). I just hope the curriculum is set to make it easy for students to transfer to other schools and complete degrees that those schools specialize in.
Nancy Stephens Daugherty
Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes
This article appears in Spring Guide 2022.
