Minutes of the University Senate, May 5, 2003
The University Senate met in special session at
Members absent were:
Susanne Arnold, Rolando Berger, Suketu Bhavsar, George Blandford*, Jack
Blanton, James Boling, Michael Braun, Lauretta Byars, James Cibulka, Nancy Clauter, Jody Deem, Nirmala
Desai*, Philip Desimone, Mary Duke*, David Durant,
Roberta Dwyer, Matthew Falk, Walter Ferrier, Joseph Fink*, William Fortune,
Michelle Freed*, Richard Furst, Lori Garkovich*, Thomas Garrity, Jule Gassenheimer*, Hans Gesund*, Rebecca Glasscock*, Louise Graham, Daniel Grantz, Philip Greasley, Howard Grotch, John Hahn, Mark Hanson, Anne Harrison*, Victor
Hazard*, Kay Hoffman, James Holsinger, Jean Jackson*,
Tom Janoski, Ling Hwey Jeng, Doug Kalika, James Kerley, Kathi Kern**, Jessica
King*, Pat Lefler, Judith Lesnaw*,
Thomas Lester, Pat Litzelfelner, Victor Marek, Joan Mazur, Leola McClure*, William McKinney, Doug
Michael*, David Mohney, Mary Molinaro,
Sue Nokes*, Ron Pen, Claire Pomeroy, Michaele Pride-Wells, Bret Ripley*, Kenneth Roberts, Thomas
Robinson, D.B. Rowland, Susan Scollay, Robert Shay,
Scott Smith, Chuck Staben, Patricia Terrell, Kelly Tian, Lee Todd, Tate Tsang, Henry Vasconez*,
Allen Vestal, Cynthia Vines, Brian Wade*, Retia
Walker, Dean White, Shirley Whitescarver*, Carolyn
Williams, Eugene Williams, Emery Wilson, Don Witt, Ernie Yanerella.
*Excused Absences
**Kathi
Kern was on sabbatical and was mistakenly listed as “unexcused” in an earlier
version of these minutes.
Chairperson Jeffrey Dembo called the meeting to order at
Announcements:
- The Chair thanked the Senators
for attending the called meeting during a finals week.
- The Chair noted that elections
should be underway in most colleges.
The Chair emphasized the importance of having good representation
and ananimity in the election process over the importance of having
elections completed by the deadline.
- The Chair thanked Brad Cannon
for his work on the Election Committee, and noted that Cannon is a
departing Senator.
- The Chair also thanked Enid
Waldhart, a departing Senator, for her many years of service on a variety
of committees. Both Cannon and
Waldhart received a warm round of applause.
- The Chair called for a motion
to approve the Minutes. Cannon so
moved. Krishnamurty Muralidhar
seconded the motion. The motion
passed unanimously.
Action Items:
Action Item 1: Proposed
Changes in Governing Regulations
Vice-Chair
Waldhart introduced the item. Waldhart invited Linda
Worley to provide some history. Linda
indicated that the Committee had examined the Governing Regulations of
instances of shared governance and underscored those instances. Chair Dembo put the item on the Senate floor
for questions. There were none. The Governing Regulations passed unanimously.
Action Item 2: Proposal
from Senate Council regarding Graduation Contract
Vice-Chair Waldhart introduced the item. Waldhart indicated that a proposal came from the Senate Council with a positive recommendation, to encourage all programs and departments to compile curricular maps to be available to students by Fall 2003. The Senate Council also recommended the implementation of a voluntary pilot program for the duration of three years. After extensive discussion involving the logistics of tuition payments and course waivers the Chair entertained a motion to stop debate. There was one opposition. The motion passed by hand-count. Eight were opposed.
Action Item 3: Proposed
changes in CIS admissions criteria
Vice-Chair
Waldhart introduced the item. Waldhart clarified
that the pre-major requirement courses in question have already been approved,
but the 3.0 GPA requirement attached to those courses had not been. Associate Provost Kraemer argued against the
item as not being student-friendly.
After debate as to whether or not a minimum GPA requirement in the
courses in question was a legitimate selective admissions criteria or if would
serve as merely a means of enrollment management, Chair Dembo asked the Senate
for a vote on the motion on the floor. A
hand-count was taken. Thirty-six voted
in favor with 22 opposed. The motion
carried.
Action Item 4:
Proposed
changes in B & E suspension policies
Vice-Chair Waldhart introduced the item. Waldhart pointed out that the policy dealt
essentially with student who had GPA’s of less than 2.0 and with how long the
GPA had been below 2.0. Chair Dembo
noted that the proposed policy was the same as the
Chair Dembo invoked the priveledge of the chair to rearrange
the agenda due to the number of visitors in the audience who were present for
the discussion. Vice Chair Waldhart
introduced the item. Waldhart said that
two proposals were forwarded from Senate Council with no recommendation. The first proposal, referred to as Proposal
1, would relocate Family Studies in the College of Education while the second
proposal, Proposal 2, would keep the remaining units within HES together and
would relocate all of them to the College of Agriculture. The Chair called on Scott Smith, Dean of the
College of Agriculture and Acting Dean of HES, to comment. Dean Smith said that both proposals had merit,
but that since the College was unable to
reach a consensus he forwarded both proposals to Provost Nietzel so that he
might seek the aid of the Senate.
Provost Nietzel said that he forwarded both proposals to Senate Council
and found merit with both proposals. He
indicated his preference for Proposal 2 due to curricular reasons, staffing
purposes and unit mission correlation.
Provost Nietzel requested the input of the Senate. Kate Chard noted that the Academic Structure
and Organization Committee had not yet seen the proposals. Ray Ford from Family Studies recommended that
the two proposals be sent to the Committee for review, and then on to Senate
Council for a decision, since the full Senate won’t meet again until the Fall
2003 semester. After some discussion
Burkhart moved that the proposals be sent to the Committee, and Tagavi seconded
the motion. Dean Smith and Hazel Forsythe
stressed the need for an expedited decision.
Provost Nietzel called the question.
The Chair entertained the motion to stop debate. Seven were opposed. The motion failed by handcount. After further discussion Grossman moved to
send the proposals to Committee and have the Committee act as the final
arbitor. Staten seconded the
motion. Tagavi suggesed an ammendement
to include Senate Council, since the Senate Council comprised of the elected
representatives of the Senate. Grossman
accepted the amendment and changed the motion to include the recommendation of
the Committee being sent to Senate Council who will then decide the
matter. Cibull expressed concern over
the Senate Council’s ability to decide the matter and added that the
Committee’s recommendation to the Provost should suffice. The Chair entertained a motion to stop
debate. Debate ended. The motion carried with 33 in favor and 10
opposed.
Action Item 6:
Proposed
rule regarding 400G-500 level courses
Vice-Chair Waldhart introduced the item. The item has grown out of the recent SACS reaccredidation process and involves the clear delineation of graduate from undergraduate credit on the syllabus of courses in which both classifications of student are represented. After some discussion regarding whether or not differences exist in the abilities of undergraduate and graduate students, Staten called the question. A majority of those present were in favor of stopping debate. The motion passed by a hand count of 26 to 12. David Randall challenged the existence of a Quorum. Since the motion passed before the challenge then the motion stands.
The meeting adjourned at
5:20 p.m.
Respectfully
Submitted by:
University
Senate Chair