The thirteenth regularly scheduled meeting of the AY 2015-16 Faculty Senate was called to order at 3:18 pm on Monday, April 18, 2016, Hathaway Hall Room 412. The agenda was approved and Faculty Senate minutes of April 4, 2015 were approved with one friendly amendment.
FSAPC# 15-16-??, (Where personnel and resources permit, programs at the university should seek the highest level of accreditation if national standards in the discipline consider accreditation appropriate), passed unanimously after brief discussion.
APC is still working on details of an Administrative Withdrawal policy of students. Senators provide input and opinions on how the policy will impact other student concerns such as financial aid, how the time frame should work, and percentage determination of absences and non-completion of assignments. Ultimately, will this be for the individual instructors to activate? It was agreed that initial success will depend on systematic education of students, including emphasis in UNV101, advising and syllabi.
The committee continues work on a proposal dealing with how high school dual enrollment grades should count for university enrolled student's GPA. There was support for this being a student decision at time of matriculation.
Chair Kumar presented Action Item FSPC# 15-16-02: Reinstatement of Sick-Leave Bank. After lengthy discussion no action was taken. The discussion will continue at the final Senate meeting on May 2.
A draft resolution was presented listing various concerns relating to the Board of Regents in opposition to the re-election of Board Chair Karen Bearden. Faculty Regent McFayden brought the concerns to the PCC. A Senator objected that this document had not been sent out with the agenda. Chair Kumar responded that it was part of his report as a draft document being considered, and PCC was seeking Senate input and opinion before drafting the final version. Secretary Rye pointed out that any charge/complaint against the Board Chair specifically must be addressed to the Vice-Chair according to policy. A non-Senator who attended the PCC meeting stated that her understanding was they were working on a bulleted list of complaints that would be sent to The Registry. A Senator said that it should go through the Senate anyway and then could be forwarded to The Registry. A Senator said the list was not specific enough, some of it was new information to him that he did not know enough about to make a determination. A non-Senator was of the opinion that the Senate was stepping out of its proper role in challenging the Board. Others disagreed with that opinion. No action was taken.
Chair Andries reported there were no action items. The committee is working on electronic signatures for forms. Thirty items came through the CC this year. The committee sent forward a request for clarification on process for cross-listing of classes. Should that go through advisors to CC or can the Registrar do this? Dr. Brown-Wright said it would be safe to do both.