It ain't over until it's over, so the old saying goes.

And the debate over controversial changes to Radford University's core curriculum appears not to be over.

A motion brought before the faculty senate at its meeting Thursday recommends reversal of many changes made last year to the general education courses all Radford students must take to graduate.

The changes went into effect in August and apply to all incoming freshmen and transfer students. They included reducing the overall number of general courses students must take in fields such as literature and history, and established new interdisciplinary courses for freshmen and sophomores.

They were also wildly unpopular among the faculty.

The motion to repeal some of those changes was sponsored by Mary Atwell, chairwoman of the criminal justice department, and Paula Brush, chairwoman of the sociology department. Both women serve on the senate.

According to the text of the motion, its contents have already been unanimously approved by every department head in the College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences.

The senate immediately tabled the motion, as per its normal procedures, and is expected to debate it on March 18, senate President Steve Owen wrote in an e-mail.

In the first months of the new curriculum's implementation, the changes have posed staffing problems for the faculty and academic challenges for students, said Matthew Franck, chairman of the political science department.

Because the new classes are writing intensive, Franck said each section must be limited to no more than 25 students. To meet the demand, the university must offer about 50 sections of each course.

But there are only enough faculty members to teach about half of them, he said.

With current and future state budget cuts looming, the staffing shortage is likely to get worse. Without changes to the curriculum, "department chairs responsible for staffing believe we're heading over a cliff in the fall," Franck said.

Also, because the interdisciplinary courses are not widely used at other institutions, students wishing to transfer into and out of Radford have experienced difficulties doing so, Franck said.

The motion suggests returning to a curriculum similar, but not identical to, what had been in place in 2007. The motion would repeal the interdisciplinary courses and return to more traditional general education courses.

It would, however, still accomplish two of the administration's goals: reduce the total number of classes required and provide more flexibility in what courses students take, Franck said.

Restructuring of the core curriculum has been but one in a string of conflicts between the faculty and the administration of President Penelope Kyle.

Confrontations over expedited program reviews, restructuring of departments and a revision of the university's strategic plan led in part to a senate vote in October recommending the removal of Provost Wil Stanton.

Stanton resigned in December but is expected to return as a faculty member.

If passed next month, the curriculum proposal would then go to the university's General Education Curriculum Advisory Committee for consideration, Owen wrote.

If approved there, both the faculty senate and the Student Government Association would then review and comment on it before it is sent to Kyle.

Owen said final approval of the curriculum rests with the president.