ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES

(Approved)

November 7, 2001 Volume XXXIII, No. 6

Call to Order

Chairperson Curt White called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

Roll Call

Senator Crothers called the roll and declared a quorum.

Approval of Minutes of October 24, 2001

Motion XXXIII-39: by Senator Borg, second by Senator Razaki, to approve the Senate minutes of October 24, 2001. The minutes were unanimously approved.

Chairperson's Remarks: No Remarks

Vice Chairperson/Student Government Association President's Remarks

Senator Kording: We have two communications on the agenda that we will discuss later. The Student Government Association has made a number of student appointments to external committees of the Senate. At the last meeting of the student government, the SGA Assembly took action on a measure authorizing a preliminary student interest assessment for a new campus rec center. That corresponds with some of the work done by the Recreation and Wellness Center Advisory Committee that was appointed by Vice Presidents Bragg and Mamarchev. That is moving along nicely. We have also been working on the student fee review process and allocating student fee dollars for fiscal year 2003.

Administrators' Remarks:

· President Boschini: Excused Absence

· Provost Al Goldfarb: I want to congratulate Distinguished Professor Timothy Lash for his lecture yesterday evening. Also, next Tuesday, the Leading Edge Series will present a lecture by Dr. Richard Preston, an expert on bio-terrorism. He is a replacement for Ray Bradbury who could not come due to illness.

· Vice President of Student Affairs

Senator Mamarchev: Excused Absence

· Vice President of Finance and Planning

Senator Bragg: No Remarks

Committee Reports

· Academic Affairs Committee

Senator Borg: The Academic Affairs Committee discussed two items that we will forward to the Executive Committee for placement on the agenda of the next Senate meeting. One of them is a new policy on admissions and the other is a revision of the ISU Mission Statement.

· Administrative Affairs and Budget Committee

Senator Crothers: We are continuing to work on a policy statement regarding student protests on campus, trying to take into account events like Disney's visit and the tent city that was constructed on the quad yesterday and the reactions that some students had to that event as well. We are trying to come up with a policy statement that will cover free speech and decent treatment of any individual.

· Faculty Affairs Committee

Senator El-Zanati: No report.

· Planning and Finance Committee

Senator Kurtz: Planning and Finance met last week and we met again immediately before the Senate meeting. We continued to craft a model for departmental and collegiate self-study, the ideal process through which we think reorganization should take place. We have moved towards firming up the idea that this kind of conversation should take place on campus every ten years and should take place around the time of the NCA self-study; we are moving towards the idea that it should be subsequent to the NCA self-study. We are going to be analyzing at least three data sets of campus responses to this endeavor, the e-mail survey, the results of the focus groups and the position papers submitted. We did tabulate the list of themes that emerged from the e-mail survey. We will continue our discussion.

· Rules Committee

Senator Reid: The Rules Committee met this evening and discussed one possible change in the non-tenure track proposal and decided not to make the change. We also discussed a confidential issue.

Action Items:

02.08.01.01B Proposal for Renaming General Studies to Interdisciplinary Studies and Increasing GPA Requirement (Academic Affairs Committee)

Motion XXXIII-40: By Senator Borg, second by Senator Mitchell, to approve the proposal for renaming General Studies to Interdisciplinary Studies and increasing the GPA requirement for this program from 2.5 to 2.75.

Senator Eric Thomas: The proposal contains two items. One is to rename the General Studies Program Interdisciplinary Studies and secondly to increase the GPA requirement from 2.5 to 2.75, both of these are efforts to distinguish this degree as a high-level degree program.

Senator Walker: How independent is this proposal from the other two proposals, which are action items this evening. Am I to understand that we are raising the standards of this program and we are proposing a University Studies Program as a fall back for those students who can't even get into General Studies?

Since we are raising academic standards, could this work without the University Studies Program?

Senator Borg: I believe this was a response to the initiative of the other two items. It also can stand on its own merits. It has been relatively attractive in the past several years and the Honors Program I believe is endorsing this kind of change.

Senator E. Thomas: The change was actually proposed and approved by the College of Arts and Sciences. It was also approved by the Council on General Education and University Curriculum Committee. Yes, these changes could stand on their own because this is an existing program; the proposal to rename it is to clearly demarcate it from the University Studies Program.

Senator White: The University Studies Program is not a failsafe for people who can't get into the Interdisciplinary Studies Program. The University Studies Program is an issue more closely related to the tiered program proposal.

Senator Reid: The tiered program proposal can stand on its own. It has no need for the University Studies Program to be a worthy proposal, so I don't think they need to be linked. On the other hand, the University Studies does make sense if you have tiered admissions if you really believe you should have a safety net for those who can't get into a major.

Vote on Motion to Approve Interdisciplinary Studies Proposal: The Senate voted on the motion to approve the Interdisciplinary Studies Program proposal. All members of the Senate voted to approve the motion with the exception of an abstention by Senator Hampton.

02.08.01.01A Proposal for B.A./B.S. Degree in University Studies (Academic Affairs Committee)

Motion XXXIII-41: By Senator Borg, second by Senator Meckstroth, to adopt the B.A./B.S. Degree in University Studies proposal.

Senator E. Thomas: The B.A./B.S. Degree in University Studies is designed as a broad and very flexible degree program requiring two areas of concentration on the part of students with all of the regular university requirements and including an additional requirement of nine hours of 300-level courses and also for a capstone experience. The purpose of this degree program is to serve students who have very broad interests, but are not admitted to another major program and are not appropriate for the Interdisciplinary Studies Degree.

Senator Walker: I informed my colleagues about this proposal and have received nothing but negative comments about this. Many people see this as counter to our efforts to increase standards of the university. I understand its tied to the two-tiered program, but many feel that this is not the best way to increase our standards, that this is sending a mixed message to students. I have a problem with no request for additional funding for advisors. It says in the program description that this is an advisor-intensive program.

Senator E. Thomas: This program has all of the same requirements as our General Studies Degree Program (now Interdisciplinary Studies) has right now. It is no different from any other program here at the university. It carries the same requirements. I hear people say this is not as good a degree as some other degree. The only difference is the name and lack of collection of hours that correspond to a major. Every standard that the university has for a degree program is here in University Studies, plus some additional ones.

Senator Walker: Yet we are saying that most of the students who are in this program are students who would not be qualified to get into any other degree program in this university. I understand its necessary with the two-tiered program, so I am going to say no to the two-tiered program as well. If this is trying to solve some sort of problem with standards, I don't see this as the best way to do that.

Senator E. Thomas: You have given a particular scenario of how a student would end up in this program and I think there are multiple ways that a student might enter this program. The overall purpose of this program is to allow other programs to raise their standards and what you want to have is a safety net at the level of which they began a program. So if we are going to increase the level of excellence, lets make sure we serve all of the students at the same time. I think some of the lack of support may be caused by misperceptions. I have spoken with the Chairpersons Council on two occasions about this proposal. I went to the College of Fine Arts and talked with the dean and three department chairs there. Your department chair had some reservations; I talked with him subsequently after some revisions to the proposal and he was fully supportive of it.

Senator Armstrong: I don't think this is a standards issue. I think this is an enrollment control issue that as a secondary effect may increase standards. I do think that this is a weaker degree than any other degree at the university. On paper, it requires the same number of 300-level courses, but not all of the 300-level courses at the university are open to these students. They specifically do not have access to courses that are available for majors only, courses which have prerequisites and are part of an overall hierarchal degree program. Then we have a senior capstone experience that is going to be advised by non-faculty. The whole idea of this as a safety net I am very sympathetic too, but when we start looking at a degree program that can have 500 or more students in it, more than some majors have.

Senator White: I think we need to talk about the rationale of the tiered admissions program in the context of this debate. I think much of the support that will or won't accrue to this particular motion is dependent upon understanding the rationale for the tiered admissions and therefore the validity of the University Studies Program

Senator E. Thomas: The tiered program admissions proposal is one that would allow programs more control over their admission standards and allow them to put in continuation standards for their program. This is clearly a proposal to allow programs more control and move to a higher level of rigor if they so chose. In doing so, some students could in fact not be continued in a program at some advanced stage and the University Studies Degree is designed to give those students an option. The overall effort is to allow programs to move forward and at the same time make sure that no student is left behind without a path to a degree. That's the purpose of University Studies and that is why it is tied to the tiered program admissions.

Senator Ballard: As a General Student, I take a great interest in what Dr. Thomas has done here. Maybe the degree is going to be a lesser degree, but it is definitely not a lesser program. The program is going to enhance the General Student's ability to find his or her place in this university.

Senator Reid: I have also had some correspondence with some of my constituents. They are also completely against this. I would argue that there is a major drop in standards. The University Studies Degree is basically two minors. The level of understanding and depth is very much below what we get into for a major. To do two minors is to study two subjects superficially. Therefore, this is a substantially inferior program.

Senator E. Thomas: I don't disagree with the importance of a major. I think a major is beneficial and is very important, but I do disagree with the notion that simply because this degree lacks a concentration in a major that it is now somehow weaker. It conforms to all of the standards of our university requirements for a degree program except for having a collection of hours in a major. It even goes beyond those standards in the number of 300-level hours it requires and then the requirement for a capstone experience. The only difference is the collection of hours in a major and that has been construed that this is now weaker, that this is somehow lowering standards. It is neither of those. This is a degree program that lacks a collection of hours in a major. That is the only thing that distinguishes it from our other programs.

Senator Reid: Yes, it is going to be the same number of hours, but it is also clear that these two minors will go into the subjects on a superficial level and the only course in which they might go into in depth is the senior seminar, which will be advised by a person who is not even a specialist in whatever area they are working.

Senator E. Thomas: On the one hand, you can say that Interdisciplinary Studies is a program that has the same curricular structure and is considered an upper level distinctive program, but then you say that the

same curricular structure under University Studies is now somehow inferior. They have exactly the same curricular structure, different standards that the students are held too, but the same flexibility in terms of which course work they may take.

Senator Hampton: I would like to share with you a comment that was sent to me by one of my colleagues in Theatre. "Students taking courses in minors will often sit next to students who have been admitted to the major. But now those students will be less qualified to be there because they lack the GPA to get into the "real" program." How would address that?

Senator E. Thomas: I would say that in every program that I have ever taught you have students with different levels of ability and that perform at different levels. Because a student is there because they are majoring in that area, because they are minoring in that area or because they are taking courses under the General Studies Degree Program, I don't see a real distinction except for the name of the degree that they will ultimately obtain.

Senator Hampton: Has this program been approved by the University Curriculum Committee?

Senator E. Thomas: This proposal has been approved by the Academic Standards Committee, the Council on General Education and by the University Curriculum Committee. In considering the design and structure of this program, we took a survey of other institutions to see if they had similar programs. They did. They had similar curricular requirements and similar flexibility in the programs.

Senator White: Do you have any idea how many departments are likely to move above 2.0?

Senator E. Thomas: I am not sure I can answer that. I do have information to distribute that shows how many programs are currently at or above the university minimum. I can't predict for you how many would change. In the second column of the admissions requirement document, it shows the department's requirements for admission into their program. Where you see university minimum, it means that their admission requirements are no different that what is required for admission into the university. As you go through the data, you will see that approximately 10 to 15% of the programs have requirements above the university minimum.

Senator White: The purpose of the tiered program is for programs to raise their standards and what do imagine would be a maximum?

Senator E. Thomas: I think that is something you would judge as you go along. I think there are programs that have the capability and the desire to raise their standards, but right now are constrained from doing so.

Senator White: What constrains them?

Senator E. Thomas: My understanding is in the past when programs have tried to change their admission and continuation requirements, it has greatly increased the population of General Students and that has been a problem for everyone because General Student is not a degree program. Students would have a large numbers of hours and still not be able to complete a degree program, even though they were a student in good standing. I have another document to distribute which shows the retention requirements in all programs. The College of Applied Science and Technology has three programs that require a 2.5 GPA for continuation and one that requires a 2.4. Social Work is the one program in the College of Arts and Sciences that requires "professional standards" for continuation. In the College of Business, all of their programs require a 2.4 GPA for continuation. In the College of Education, they are subject to Teacher Education Requirements. The College of Fine Arts has multiple programs that require a 2.5 GPA.

Senator White: So we already have tiered admission requirements in certain areas and the purpose of the proposal is to make the process of moving to a tiered admission program a little more coherent.

Senator Holland: My constituents in the Physics Department also asked me to address a few issues. The first one that came up was the lack of 300-level courses that actually have prerequisites. Also it was also stated in the minutes that this is a degree that is going to be much more difficult for anyone outside of the university to interpret as to whether a student should be admitted to a professional school or a graduate school. Rather than creating a safety net of a completely separate degree program, if someone does not meet continuation requirements, the student could be reclassified as a General Student until he or she was able to bring his or her grade point average up to the level that would be required to continue. The other concern is having up to 500 students that are outside any academic discipline, which larger than many majors on campus.

Senator E. Thomas: When you consider the number of students outside a major, have you ever looked at the number of students that are in the General Student category beyond 75 hours? There are several thousand.

Senator Kurtz: I have some questions about how this would operate. This is supposed to be advisor-intensive. We are going to be giving intensive attention to students who have greater needs than normal, providing them with a capstone experience, but yet you state that the program does not require additional resources. I admit to a certain level of skepticism about that.

Senator E. Thomas: The thinking there is that it is going to be more advisor dependent, not that it will take more advisement or more advisors. Because these students will be entering at different points in their college career and from widely different backgrounds, it would be more depend upon the advisor to craft for them a full curriculum that would be tied together by a capstone experience. That is different from the just recently renamed Interdisciplinary Studies Program where the expectation that the student will enter the program very early and will design a unique or interdisciplinary program fully in conjunction with the advisor.

Senator Kurtz: What you are describing sounds like more time for advisors to do this, so the idea that this would not require more advisors in the long run seems to be a dubious claim.

Senator Kording: I am surprised that none of the people from the Academic Affairs Committee who brought this before the Senate are speaking in support of the proposal. One of the concerns that have been raised is that the standards may be lower because the capstone experience will be administered by non-faculty. There is a communication on the agenda that deals with this in terms of professional practice advisement from faculty in some areas. So I don't think having an advisor who is a non-faculty member advising a capstone experience is necessarily a bad thing. You say that there are several thousand students in the General Student category above 75 hours and you anticipate that in five years, 500 students could be in this program on the path to a degree.

Senator E. Thomas: I anticipate that we could serve more students than we are serving now and allow more students to complete their degree. In the General Student category, they could not complete a degree, even though they were in good academic standing.

Senator Kording: Will this help the university's minority retention?

Senator E. Thomas: Yes.

Senator Kording: Do other universities have similar programs like University Studies and are there any standards that are being lowered that the university currently requires? If we approve the two-tiered admissions proposal and we don't approve the University Studies proposal, would we be leaving students behind?

Senator E. Thomas: Yes, other universities have similar programs and no standards are being lowered. If we were to adopt tiered admissions only, we would be leaving students behind.

Senator Orlando: I think that the student with this degree has gained a well-rounded education. This degree is valid and wisdom and knowledge are obviously being acquired by the person receiving it. I do have a concern that the number of 300-level courses for non-majors is very low.

Motion XXXIII-42: By Senator Razaki to move the question. Second by Senator Ballard. Senator Lindblom called for a roll call vote. The motion was passed. There were 37 yes votes and 8 no votes.

Senator White: Since the motion to the move the question has passed, we will now move immediately to vote on the motion to approve the University Studies Degree Program proposal.

Vote on University Studies Degree Proposal: The University Studies Degree Program was approved by the Senate. There were 29 yes votes and 16 no votes.

02.08.01.01 Prop