Minutes of the Faculty Senate Meeting

Minutes of the Faculty Senate Meeting

October 10, 2001

http://www.scsu.ctstateu.edu/organizations/facultysenate

The third meeting of the 2001-2002 year was called to order at 12:15 PM.

Members Present:

Brownell (Art), Lavin (Art), Martinelli (Biology), Puerschner (Chemistry), Ullian (Communication), Coburn-Enquist (Communication), Jirsa (ComDisorder/MFT), DaPonte (Computer Science), Lawler (Counseling), Fullmer (Earth Science), Thorson (Econ/Finance), Corbett (Education), Cairns (Ed Leadership), Petrie (English), Hood (English), Johnson (English), Mee (Exercise Science), Rinehardt (Exercise Science), Verplaetse (Foreign Language), Sakalowsky (Geography), Judd (History), Petto (History), Dunklee (Jounalism), Bielefield (Library Science), Schofield-Bodt (Library Science), Wu (Library), Prince (Marketing), Bennett (Math), Brin (Math), Wallace (Nursing), Prince (Part-time faculty), Young (Part-time faculty), Volkman (Philosophy), Broadbridge (Physics), Paulson (Political Science), Sherman (Psychology), Kahlbaugh (Psychology), Bulmer (Public Health), Grants (Recreation/Leisure), Cusato (Science Ed/Env Stud), Dripchak (Social Work), Skoczen (Soc & Anthro), Brucker (Special Ed/Reading), Major (Special Ed/Reading), Watts (Theatre)

Visitors:

Tait

Members Absent:

(Accounting), Maloney (Athletics), Nwachuku (Couns/SchPsych), (Education), Hernandez (Foreign Language), Nodoushani (Management), Moss (Music), (Part-time faculty), (Part-time faculty), Haymes (Social Work)

The minutes of September 26 were approved.

President’s Report (attached):

President Paulson announced that Ken Gatzke (Philosophy) had agreed to serve on the Design Committee.

Announcements: none

UCF Update

J. Tait reported that the Writing Board has submitted its report and proposal. These items will be debated at the UCF meeting on October 25. The proposal is available online at http://www.southernct.edu/committees/writingprogram/TimetoteachIII.htm. It is also available from departmental UCF representatives. One noteworthy change in the new proposal is that attendance at writing workshops is not mandatory. All faculty are invited to the October 25 meeting to offer their views on the report and proposal.

In other matters, the UCF is considering a proposal from Foreign Languages regarding a bi-lingual education program, and the committee has noted that courses offered only in the summer cannot be program requirements, as a matter of policy.

Standing Committee Reports:

Rules: There is a resolution under New Business.

Personnel Policy: No Report

Student Policy:

The committee is discussing faculty advisement of student clubs, including a recent memo sent out by the Dean of Student Affairs. It seems that full-time faculty are not always asked to serve as club advisors before part-time faculty. Whether this is a problem is still under discussion.
The Disabilities Resource Office has met with Dean Sheeley regarding the impact of construction on disabled students. The committee has not followed up on that meeting yet.

Technology: There are three resolutions under Old Business.

Academic Policy:

The committee has resubmitted two curricular approval resolutions as New Business. These resolutions were passed last semester for the President's approval, but were rejected. They are now being submitted for him to note.
The committee is exploring the policy for emergency drops and adds.

Elections:

The committee is preparing for several special elections:
There are two vacancies in the Senate representing part-time faculty.
There is a vacancy on the Termination Hearing Committee.
There is a vacancy on the University Library Committee, requiring an election of a new representative from the Business School.

Finance:

There is $100,000 in the full-time travel account, and $17,000 in the part-time travel account.

Old Business:

Technology

Banner Resolution (see September 26 Minutes):

The amendment to the resolution on the floor was withdrawn without objection. The motion on the floor was also withdrawn without objection.

The following new Banner Resolution came out of the Technology Committee:

Whereas there are deficiencies in the current Banner software system with respect to prerequisite checking,

Whereas prerequisite checking is dependent upon accurate academic history,

The Faculty Senate resolves that

all student academic history and prerequisite checking (including placement scores) should be accessible through Banner by November 1, 2001.

Prerequisites should be automatically rechecked immediately after instructors submit final grades.

Any student no longer meeting the appropriate prerequisites for a given course will be notified along with the relevant course instructor.

And the student will also be informed that without written permission from either the instructor of the course or the chair of the department offering the course that he/she will be removed from the class roster at the end of the add/drop period.

A motion to change "at" to "after" in d. failed.

P. Petrie moved an amendment to change d. as follows:

And the student will also be informed that without permission from the department offering the course that he/she will be removed from the class roster at the end of the add/drop period.

The amendment passed.

B. Johnson moved an amendment to collapse d. into c. as follows:

All student academic history and prerequisite checking (including placement scores) should be accessible through Banner by November 1, 2001.

Prerequisites should be automatically rechecked immediately after instructors submit final grades.

Any student no longer meeting the appropriate prerequisites for a given course will be notified, along with the relevant course instructor, that without written permission from the department offering the course that he/she will be removed from the class roster at the end of the add/drop period.

The amendment passed.

The resolution passed as amended.

Grade Point Average Resolution

The following resolution came out of the Technology Committee:

Whereas the method of calculating grade point average in Banner (truncation) may result in a lower grade point average (by .01) than that calculated by CSUSIS (rounding),

The Faculty Senate resolves that

No student will be affected negatively by the new method of calculating grade point average. (For example, with regards to dean’s list, academic probation, etc.)

And notification of the new method of calculation will be included with all transcripts.

T. Bennett suggested that "admission to academic programs" be added to the list of examples in a. The amendment was accepted without objection.

The resolution passed as amended.

PIN number sense of the Senate

The technology committee sought a sense of the Senate regarding the use of PIN numbers as electronic signatures in the context of an advisor's approval of an advisee's registration. This measure would relieve students from standing in long lines to verify the advisor's signature, since they would be able to register online by entering the PIN as proof of their advisors' approval. It is not about having students register in their advisors' offices. The PIN would be given to students when they come for advisement. Students who do not have advisors would contact Academic Advisement for a PIN. Many Senators said they were confused about what exactly such a system would look like. President Paulson advised the Technology Committee to have someone visit the committee to clarify these issues. The sense of the Senate was mixed: Many voted yes, a few voted no, and many were uncertain.

Academic Policy

Course Withdrawal Resolutions

The following Course Withdrawal Resolution came out of the Academic Policy Committee:

Whereas the statement of the undergraduate course withdrawal policy in the Undergraduate Studies Catalog is internally inconsistent,

and, whereas the statement of the graduate course withdrawal policy in the Graduate Studies Catalog is internally inconsistent,

therefore be it resolved:

that course withdrawal policy and procedures shall be clearly and consistently stated in the Undergraduate Studies Catalog, and in the Graduate Studies Catalog.

J. Fullmer explained the specific problems and said these specific problems would be brought to the attention of the President.

The resolution passed.

The following Course Withdrawal Resolution came out of the Academic Policy Committee:

Whereas the undergraduate course withdrawal policy is not consistently stated in all documents,

therefore be it resolved:

that all statements of undergraduate course withdrawal policy (such as those found in the Student Handbook, Schedule of Classes, withdrawal forms and departmental documents) shall be identical to the policy stated in the current Undergraduate Studies Catalog.

S. Judd moved to amend the resolution by adding the words, "as corrected in [the resolution above]," where the text in brackets will be replaced by the specific name of the resolution just passed.

The amendment passed.

B. Johnson moved to amend the resolution to read as follows:

Whereas the undergraduate and graduate course withdrawal policies are not consistently stated in all documents,

therefore be it resolved:

that all statements of undergraduate and graduate course withdrawal policies (such as those found in the Student Handbook, Schedule of Classes, withdrawal forms and departmental documents) shall be identical to the policies stated in the current Undergraduate and Graduate Studies Catalogs, respectively, as corrected in [the resolution above].

The amendment passed.

The resolution passed as amended.

The following Course Withdrawal Resolution came out of the Academic Policy Committee:

Whereas the current student withdrawal policy is inconsistently stated and enforced,

and whereas the current policy for student withdrawal after the first nine weeks of a semester is subject to varying interpretations of "extenuating circumstances" by students and instructors in applying for and granting of late withdrawals,

and whereas the grades of "WF" and "WP" are also subject to differing standards of application depending, for example, on various views of what grade is deserved according to the reason for withdrawal, rather than on consistent standards of academic performance,

and whereas students may thereby be adequately advised, and also encouraged to take responsibility for assessing their own individual circumstances and for their academic careers,

therefore be it resolved:

that any student may withdraw from a course, for any reason, following the Add/Drop period up to the last day of classes and before the final exam in that course. The student will receive a grade of "W" on his/her transcript. The student withdraws by submitting a completed form to the Records/Registrar's Office which contains the signatures of the instructor and the student's academic advisor, attesting that the student has been informed of the consequences of the withdrawal.

There was much debate about this resolution. Those opposed to the resolution worried that such a policy would:

Undermine departmental policies regarding the failure of a course
Undermine students' responsibility for their grades by allowing them to avoid the consequences of their poor performance
Increase the number of late withdrawals
Keep thesis advisors from being compensated if a student withdraws late in the term, even though the heavy work of advisement had already taken place
Serve as a disincentive to borderline students.

Proponents of the resolution argued that such a policy would:

Guarantee fairness in the implementation of the late withdrawal policy
Enhance student responsibility by ending "in loco parentis" paternalism
Enhance the role of advisors
Be less punitive than the current policy
Encourage borderline students to retake courses and actually master the material, rather than getting by with a "D" and no real mastery of the material.

G. Puerschner moved to amend the resolution by changing the first clause after "therefore be it resolved" to read:

that any student may withdraw from a course, for any reason, following the Add/Drop period up to the last day of classes and before the final exam in that course, whichever comes first.

The amendment carried without objection.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 PM

Respectfully submitted,

Richard Volkman

Secretary of the Senate

Resolutions Passed:

F-01-01 Banner

F-01-02 GPA

F-01-03 Course Withdrawal Policy

F-01-04 Course Withdrawal Policy