Belmont University currently requires 60 hours of outside work for its students to graduate. This program is called WELL Core. On their website, Belmont explains that WELL Core is required because "Belmont wants students to have a common or shared experience that promotes the development of a well-rounded individual by encouraging learning outside the classroom and life-long learning."  However, WELL Core does not actually accomplish this goal.

By creating this as a requirement, it causes more stress on students who are already stressed by classes, jobs, and an uncertain future. Due to this, many pick events to attend simply to fulfill the requirement, instead of attending for personal enrichment. This fills events with uninterested students, which make the events less meaningful both for the students who are interested and for the professors who went through the process of organizing the events (this was a concern raised by two professors on separate occasions, not students).

If WELL Core became optional, then anyone who wants to get connected will still have the opportunity to. This means that anyone attending a WELL Core event would truly be interested, which would create a more positive and welcoming environment for the event. WELL Core itself is not a bad idea, but it should not be enforced as a requirement for graduation from Belmont University.