A group of University of Colorado regents are moving forward with a serious examination of whether to add a three-credit-hour civics graduation requirement.

The university affairs committee of the CU Board of Regents has formally requested a report from the CU system administration that estimates financial and administrative costs after discussions that began more than nine months ago. The discussions so far have centered on study of the country’s founding documents, including the Constitution, and the structure and function of the government and its branches.

An administration official cautioned the committee during its meeting on Wednesday in Denver, though. If the full board decides to mandate curriculum, it would be the first time in its history.

“It’s absolutely precedent-setting,” Michael Lightner told the committee. Lightner is the CU system vice president for academic affairs and serves as an adviser to President Bruce Benson. “The faculty will be very concerned about this.”

He said the committee, and ultimately the board, must consider what its decision would mean in the long term.

“When a new board is here, and we look six years down the road, and that board says, ‘We should require business of every graduate because they’re going to work in a business environment in this country. We should require X of every graduate, Y of every graduate’ — independent of whether those are really interesting and good ideas, we’ve moved away from the faculty specifying the curriculum,” Lightner said.

Regent John Carson, a Highlands Ranch Republican and chair of the committee, made it clear during the meeting that the committee is still in an exploratory phase and would seek feedback from both administrators and faculty before coming to any decision. Committees allow regents to discuss ideas in less formal settings than full board meetings, where final decisions are made.

After the committee receives the finance report later this summer, it will contact each of the three general campuses for feedback and any alternate proposals, Carson said. He and Lightner both noted that the CU system’s faculty council has so far been receptive to the proposal.

“I have gone out of my way to avoid this being a mandate,” Carson said. “I’m looking for input from the faculty, from the administration.”

Board Chair Sue Sharkey, R-Castle Rock, said the idea comes from constituents who have asked for it.

“I would ask that this university community keep in mind that we represent the people of the state of Colorado,” Sharkey said. “What we bring forward, we should not be getting pushback, but rather understand that we are representing the people of this state.”

Regent Irene Griego, D-Lakewood, countered that she’s heard no such feedback from constituents, and she’s heard from those in education that such a requirement isn’t necessary because high schoolers already face similar requirements.

“I am not hearing that there is a need to do this,” Griego said. “Mainly — I know I come from a world of education — it’s because it’s a requirement for high school.

“I can’t stress enough the importance of taking this through a shared governance model and hoping there can be some kind of compromise, or work through this.”

The committee on Wednesday discussed a report that Lightner and Jill Taylor, the CU system director of academic program and policy analysis, prepared prior to the meeting at their request.

The report examined peer institutions of CU’s three general campuses: Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs. The report found that of 70 peer institutions, 16 have civics requirements. All those with a civics requirement did so in response to mandates by state legislatures, state higher education continuing boards or institutional governing boards. They differed in their approaches.

As of now, the committee has set an Aug. 1 deadline to receive the finance report, after which it will request proposals from the campuses to be finished by Dec. 1.

Cassa Niedringhaus: 303-473-1106, cniedringhaus@dailycamera.com