Minutes of the March 31, 2005 Meeting of the Academic Policies Committee of the Faculty Senate
Present:
Jean Moore (member),
Clifton Sutton (chair),
Susan Trencher (member), Susan Jones (guest)
Absent:
Esther Elstun (member, on leave),
Carol Kaffenberger (member, on leave)
After some preliminary discussion involving the end of the semester lunch, discussion of the
agenda items began at (approx.) 3:10 PM.
- Cliff announced that the previously provided initial information about the Advanced Gen Ed proposal should be
ignored because the details were too sketchy. We will wait until we receive a polished version of a proposal from the
Gen Ed Committee before we seriously consider this matter of Adv. Gen Ed. (Cliff added that he suspects that
some in the Senate, and some on the AP, may not approve of the proposed Adv. Gen Ed option.)
- Cliff summarized the issues pertaining to the proposed changes in the Gen Ed history requirement that are under
consideration.
- The proposal is strongly supported by the (large) Gen Ed Committee, and that is perhaps a reason to favor its
approval.
- The proposal eliminates a requirement for U.S. History which was imposed by ther BoV, and at the time it was
forced on us, the majority of the Gen Ed Task Force and the Senate did not like this decision by the BoV. But the
provost feels that now is the right time to get rid of this imposed requirement.
- A major reason the proposed change os supported by the provost and the Gen Ed Comm is that it reduces the overall
Gen Ed requirements, and this is particularly useful for CAS BA students who must also satisfy a heavy set of CAS Gen
Ed requirements in addition to the university Gen Ed requirements (and with fewer Gen Ed credits needed, CAS BA
students can more easily complete minors, concentrations, etc.).
- Another reason to eliminte the history requirement is that many students coming out of high school have recently
taken a course in U.S. history, and perhaps these students will be better served by allowing them to take some other
course in place of U.S. history.
- Although the History faculty will be affected by the proposed changes, their department is in favor of the
changes.
- Susan T. expressed that she wasn't convinced that the proposed changes should occur at this time. She has heard
about other proposed changes in Gen Ed, and until the restructing of CAS is figured out, she believes that some
will be hesitant to approve any such changes. (Cliff remarked that these other Gen Ed changes must pertain to CAS Gen
Ed, and that is not the business of the Senate.)
- Cliff asked Susan T. to please reconsider her opposition, and suggested that he would try to get Assoc. Provost
Marilyn McKenzie to come discuss the matter with us.
- Susan J. urged that if the changes are made, they should go into effect at the beginning of an academic year ---
anything else would create a lot of trouble.
- Cliff siad that he would contact M. McKenzie and Jack Censer and suggest that, if approved, the changes would go
into effect at the start of the Fall 2006 semester.
The meeting adjourned at (approx.) 4:15 PM.
minutes submitted by Clifton Sutton