Post updated September 2, 2025:
On August 29, 2025, the temporary pause for the Common Curriculum Human Diversity was extended to include Fall 2025 graduates to permit additional time for a final curricular governance recommendation. Please read the update from Assistant Provost Dustin Grabsch, which was posted on the SMU Federal Updates SharePoint website.
Guidance for academic advisors remains the same as outlined below, but undergraduate students with expected graduation terms of Spring 2026 and beyond should be advised to complete the requirement.
For Fall 2025, expected graduates who were missing the Human Diversity requirement and were not currently enrolled in an HD-tagged course for the term have had their requirement waived on their Degree Progress Report. The Office of General Education will review records following the Withdrawal deadline and again following grade posting, should any additional Fall 2025 students need a waiver.
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In light of the February 14, 2025, Dear Colleague Letter from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, the University has decided to temporarily pause the undergraduate Human Diversity (HD) requirement in the SMU Common Curriculum for students graduating between May 2025 and August 2025. This pause is intended to provide time to thoroughly review the requirement and evaluate whether revisions are necessary.
Undergraduate students whose expected graduation terms were between May 2025 and August 2025 as of Friday, February 28, who had not or were not expected to have the requirement satisfied by the end of May 2025 have been waived.
Students who meet the HD requirement via course or individual will be documented as having satisfied the condition on their Degree Progress Report (DPR). For instance, if a HD individual activity or an HD-tagged course was completed successfully, it will be reflected.
If HD is incomplete by the end of Spring 2025 and the student is expected to graduate during the pause, it will appear waived for graduation. A sample DPR below shows the explanatory text for the waived requirement.
These DPR updates went live on my.SMU on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. Students will be notified via email on Monday, March 10, 2025. If faculty and academic advisors discover errors with an affected student’s DPR, please submit a DPR Issues/Requests to the Office of the Registrar.
It is important to note that this is not a permanent change. No modifications to the Human Diversity requirement will be made without appropriate faculty approval. The pause is being enacted to ensure that faculty have the necessary time and space to deliberate on the matter fully. Therefore, academic advisors are encouraged not to modify advisement practices for students graduating after August 2025 at this time.
Should you have any questions about this guidance or student’s expected graduation has been updated to be within the pause period, please contact the Office of General Education.