Chancellor King Announces Improvements to SUNY Undergraduate General Education Curriculum, Including New Focus on Civic Discourse

January 7, 2025

Civic Discourse and Artificial Intelligence to be Integrated into Existing 30-Credit Requirement

Enhancements Are a Part of SUNY’s Commitment to Prepare Students with the Knowledge and Skills to Succeed and Lead

Albany, NY – State University of New York Chancellor John B. King Jr. today announced new system-wide requirements for SUNY’s undergraduate general education curriculum beginning with the incoming Fall 2026 cohort. The new requirements approved by the SUNY Board of Trustees add a civic discourse component to the general education core competencies, as well as an update to the existing information literacy core competency in order to reflect the rise of emerging technologies and artificial intelligence.

"SUNY is committed to academic excellence, which includes a robust general education curriculum," said SUNY Chancellor King. "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."

SUNY Board Trustee Stanley Litow said, "Our institution is proud to lead the nation in public higher education opportunities. The changes made to the General Education Framework are critically important and will bring our curriculum up to date in both AI and civic discourse. I am confident the changes approved by the Board of Trustees will ensure the success of our students both inside and outside the classroom, and positively impact society, as the world continues to change around them."

SUNY Board Trustee and University Faculty Senate President Keith Landa said, "At SUNY we understand the value of public higher education, and the importance of ensuring our students are well rounded and engaged citizens. Updating the general education requirement to include civic discourse is essential for empowering the next generation by equipping them with the tools they need to navigate differences and build a more equitable society."

SUNY Board Trustee and Faculty Council of Community Colleges President Candice Vacin said, "With the update to SUNY's General Education Framework, we are continuing to ensure that our students are prepared for not only their professional journeys, but everyday life and the people they will encounter. Updating the framework to include civic discourse and a literacy component to reflect the rise in artificial intelligence is essential. 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."

The newly added civic discourse component ensures students gain the skills necessary to participate in civic life and engage in healthy dialogues in order to secure the future of our democracy. This addition is part of SUNY’s broader Civics and Service Agenda.

The civic discourse student learning outcomes are as follows:

Students will demonstrate the discourse skills necessary to participate in civic life, including:

the deliberation of ideas through reasoned inquiry that seeks new information and considers multiple points of view; and
the ethical practice of advocacy, dissent, and dialogue that constructively attends to points of conflict.

In 2024, Governor Kathy Hochul launched the Empire State Service Corps Program to promote paid civic and service opportunities. 500 service positions have been created across SUNY's colleges and universities, funded by a $2.75 million expansion of community service initiatives in the FY25 Enacted Budget. Students participating in the program will dedicate at least 300 hours a year to paid community service – on campus or in the community – and will convene regularly to share and learn from each other's experiences.

SUNY is advocating for state funding to double the size of the Empire State Service Corps to 1,000 students. SUNY received over 2,000 applications for the 500 spots when the application first opened.

Additionally, the revised student learning outcomes for information literacy – focused on ensuring students have the skills to effectively recognize and ethically use artificial intelligence – are:

Students will:

locate information effectively using tools appropriate to their need and discipline;
evaluate information from a variety of sources, with an awareness of authority, validity, bias, and origin; and
demonstrate an understanding of the ethical dimensions of information use, creation, and dissemination, whether from traditional sources or emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence.

The artificial intelligence changes are part of SUNY’s partnership with Governor Hochul’s efforts to lead New York State in emerging technologies and AI research for the public good.

Students will not be required to take additional credits once the curriculum requirements are implemented.

In June 2024, the SUNY Provost’s office convened a working group to develop recommendations for the updated core competencies. A draft of the recommendations was twice distributed system-wide for feedback before being presented and approved by the SUNY Board of Trustees during their December Board Meeting. The curriculum changes will be implemented in a two-step process, beginning with campus-level development and discretionary early adoption of learning experiences on civic discourse and artificial intelligence before a full system-wide implementation effective Fall 2026 for all incoming students seeking associate and bachelor’s degrees.

Richard Haass, author, The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens, Senior Counselor, Centerview Partners, and President Emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations said, "Civic discourse is not about censorship. It is about is learning how to disagree in a civil manner, one that preserves the possibility for compromise on the issue at hand while preserving relationships and the possibility of working together constructively on other issues. Such preservation is essential for a functioning democracy. SUNY is to be applauded for adding a focus on civic discourse to its general education curriculum."

Partners for Campus-Community Engagement Executive Director Dr. David Harker said, "SUNY continues to be a leader in preparing students to thrive as active and engaged citizens. The newly added civic discourse requirements will provide students with the skills and experience required to participate in a healthy democracy. These learning outcomes ensure that students are equipped to engage in ethical and nuanced conversations about complex social issues, based on careful deliberation of information and with consideration of multiple viewpoints."

Executive Director of ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge Jen Domagal-Goldman said, "A thriving democracy requires healthy civic discourse. ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge is proud to work with Chancellor King to make nonpartisan student democratic engagement a core value on SUNY campuses across New York State. SUNY’s commitment to helping students form the habits of active and informed citizenship supports the development of the next generation of engaged citizens."

Institute for Citizens & Scholars President Rajiv Vinnakota said, "Higher education plays a crucial role in shaping the next generation of civic problem-solvers. Civil discourse is a fundamental skill for strengthening our democracy, and we’re proud to work alongside SUNY leadership through our initiative, College Presidents for Civic Preparedness, to provide students with regular opportunities to engage in difficult conversations on critical issues facing our country."

Executive Director Michelle Deutchman, University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement, said, "In a time of extreme polarization and division, it is critical that students develop skills to form opinions based on evidence, as well as tools to share them effectively inside and outside the classroom, including identifying false and misleading information. SUNY’s decision to integrate a civic discourse focus into their general education requirement sends an essential message that how we engage with one another needs to change."

About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state’s only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.4 million students amongst its entire portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2023, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.

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Chancellor King Announces Improvements to SUNY Undergraduate General Education Curriculum, Including New Focus on Civic Discourse

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