Faculty Senate

ASCRC Minutes 10/14/08

Members Present: J. Bergman, T. Brockman, I. Crummy, J. Dempersmier, S. Gauthier, S. Lodmell, J. Luckowski, D. MacDonald, M. Nielsen, H. Thompson, E. Uchimoto, K. Unger, R. Vanita, G. Weix, K. Zoellner

Members Absent/Excused:

Ex-Officio Present: M. Hoell, D. Micus, A. Walker-Andrews

Guests: S. Greymorning, J. Tompkins

Chair Weix called the meeting to order at 2:15 p.m.

The minutes from 10/7/08 were approved.

Communication

• Professor Greymorning described the Beginning Arapaho course. It has been taught several times experimentally. Arapaho is a dying language. He developed the methodology for the course based on child's acquisition of language. Students are taught in an emergent style and acquire a phrase every two minutes. It requires commitment by the students. The language is symbolic and complex.
  
  There is confusion regarding why this course should be at a higher level than other beginning foreign language courses. There are oral proficiency standards for foreign language courses that can be used as benchmarks to compare the 200 level requirements.

• Bill MacCregor, Director of Transferability addressed the Faculty Senate last week. Departments should make sure they know who is representing them on the Faculty Councils reviewing courses and establishing equivalencies. Camie will send the committee the draft minutes with links to the online discussion board and other information.

• Some members of the General Education Review Subcommittees are confused regarding the review of upper-division general education courses. The Framework specifies that courses be introductory and foundational. However, many of the upper-division courses did not provide adequate justification. There will likely be follow-up for many of these courses. The General Education Subcommittee is meeting on Friday and will discuss the review difficulties.

Business Items:

• Curriculum Review - Social Science
  The Social Science Subcommittee presented the remaining items reviewed. The list below was approved. The courses associated with the Climate Studies Minor were deferred until after the deliberations of the other subcommittees given the interdisciplinary nature of the courses. Approval of the Environmental Studies courses was postponed for an explanation of the Chair as to why courses not taught by permanent faculty are proposed for permanent course numbers. Also a few of the permanent course numbers proposed are bag numbers, so the department should take this into consideration. The online Political Science courses associated with the Nonprofit Administration Certificate did not include reading lists in the syllabi. These courses will also not be taught by tenure track faculty. Reading lists will be requested for the courses.
  
  There was further discussion regarding the proposed Beginning Arapaho course. The definition of course levels in the catalog is:

100-199 Primarily for freshmen.
200-299 Primarily for sophomores.
300-399 Primarily for juniors.
400-499 Primarily for seniors.

However, there seems to be no clear correlation between course number and the difficulty of the course.   There should be consistency for clarity and transferability, especially considering the common course numbering initiative and the possibility of this course meeting the Modern and Classical language general education requirement in the future.

• Professor Zoellner, ASCRC Writing Subcommittee liaison presented the writing courses reviewed by Subcommittee. The following courses were approved.

Writing Course  (One-time only)

Upper Division Writing Course in the Major

• Withdrawal Policy
  The committee discussed the possibility of a more lenient withdrawal policy. Associate Dean Tompkins presented some background on the issue. He researched other schools in the same Carnegie rankings as UM and found that 45% allowed withdrawals in the 10^th or 11^th week and approximately 30% allowed withdrawals after the midterm. It seems that UM's policy is a holdover from the transition from quarters to semesters. There are inequities in the current system because of the differences in culture of the various schools and colleges apparent in the petition process.
  
  Extending the withdrawal date will provide a chance for students to meet with advisors and professors for intervention. There was consensus that a policy change would be beneficial. Chair Weix will draft a proposal for the committee to consider next week.
• Grade Point Average Calculation Policy
  There was deliberation over whether the GPA should reflect what a student knows or the history of their academic performance. ASUM has drafted a resolution in support of using the last earned grade to calculate the grade point average.
  
  Students should be better prepared. Allowing grade point average recalculation fixes the problem after it occurs. Students need to be motivated to take the course seriously the first time. They should know enough to pass the course or drop the course. Students have a responsibility to be informed. It was suggested to leave the current averaging policy in place to see whether a more lenient withdrawal policy makes a difference. In addition, a moratorium could be placed on grade recalculation which would eliminate the fee and the revenue. Provisions would be made through the appeals process for students who need help now. Discussion will continue next week.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.