The fall 2008 physical education course listings will not include many of the current one-credit outdoor activities offered through Binghamton Outdoor Pursuits, an administrator has confirmed.

According to Lisa Hrehor, the chair of the health and physical education department, the decision has been made to ‘focus more on health and wellness course offerings’ and to cut several of the classes which fulfill only the activity (Y) requirements, including bicycling, hiking and backpacking.

Hrehor said the shift in the curriculum’s focus was approved by the Department Curriculum Committee, which is comprised of full-time faculty members, including Teresa ‘Birdie’ High, the assistant director for Outdoor Pursuits.

The program is ‘moving away from the traditional,’ she said. According to Hrehor, the focus will be on ‘lifestyle behavior’ and the outdoor activity classes being cut do not fit into that ‘wellness model.’

Of the 18 single-credit activity courses, ranging from fly-fishing to kayaking now offered through Outdoor Pursuits, only two will be taught next fall. One two-credit course, Canada Canoe, where students take a week-long trip through lakes in Canada, will also be eliminated.

Hrehor stressed that the courses that were cut do not offer long-term benefits, and said Outdoor Pursuits offered ‘recreational types of activity’ which would still be available for no credit.

Courses like martial arts and weight training, she said, offered benefits which could be sustained long after the course is taken.

The Outdoor Pursuits Web site, however, describes the program’s missions as ‘physical activity, wellness and a deeper understanding of nature through experience-based outdoor, adventure and environmental education.’

‘It doesn’t seem ‘ to me at least ‘ to be rational,’ Mike Zuber, the program coordinator for Outdoor Pursuits, said of the cuts.

According to him, about 250 students enroll in the courses through the program every semester and several of the classes fill up quickly.

Zuber said that the lack of a grading policy, including test scores, was a concern to the department. Outdoor Pursuit classes are offered pass/fail and usually have no more than 12 students, he said, making it easy to develop personal connections with them.

While Outdoor Pursuits will continue to offer non-credit courses, he said the programs will ‘probably be much shorter, one-day experiences.’

‘My biggest objection to the whole thing ‘ is that we are trying to get students to get more familiar with the outdoors, and if they come from the city, in many cases they may not have had that experience with the environment,’ Zuber said. ‘It’s counterproductive to the society in general.’

Meanwhile, Hrehor stressed that many of the existing courses would be modified to take on the extra load of students looking for courses, and that some of the proposals ‘ which she noted have not been approved yet ‘ have a focus on wellness through the outdoors.

‘They will just have new names and new titles, but those opportunities will still be there,’ Hrehor said.

It is unlikely, she said, that the canceled Outdoor Pursuit classes will return.