POSTPONEMENT OF MOTION ON THE CLUSTER REQUIREMENT
After asking if there were any other announcements, President Brand recognized Mr. John Nicols, History, who rose to present the Cluster Requirement motion passed by the University Senate on October 13, 1993.
As Mr. Nicols began to speak, the Parliamentarian, Mr. Charles Wright, Mathematics, raised a point of order noting that the Cluster Requirement story in that morning's Oregon Daily Emerald had indicated the Assembly meeting would convene at 3:30 p.m. Mr. Wright then presented the following motion which was seconded by Mr. Leland Roth, Art History:
"I move that discussion of the Cluster Requirement motion be postponed until 3:30 p.m."
The motion was approved by voice vote with no audible dissents.
NEW BUSINESS
President Brand then moved to New Business, inviting discussion of issues raised during the State of the University Address which he had presented at the Assembly's October 20, 1993 meeting. When no one responded to his invitation, he asked Mr. Wright to bring the Assembly up to date on the work of the Productivity Steering Committee.
Mr. Wright reported that the Steering Committee will be meeting with the Productivity Working Groups which "are coming along, by and large with good will." He emphasized the need for looking at productivity "not so much in terms of inputs, but outputs," opining that it would be necessary to come up with ideas "or a lot of small things which can be done, because "no one bright idea will do it.
During the productivity discussion, Provost Norman Wessells described brainstorming underway in response to a request from Chancellor Thomas "Bartlett for proposals for innovative projects. Provost Wessells said the University of Oregon appears to be coming up with imaginative ideas relating to the expansion of summer session offerings and to interinstitutional cooperation. He gave as examples the possibility of working out joint programs involving the College of Business Administration and Oregon State University; Architecture in the Portland area; and Journalism and the community colleges.
In response to remarks by Ms. Esther Jacobson-Tepfer, Art History, and Mr. Nicols about GTF budget reductions, President Brand acknowledged that they had raised a very important issue, the difficulty of redirecting resources. He advised the Assembly of the importance of realizing that the need to look at productivity and to change is not temporary for this university or for others across the nation. "The threat to the University of Oregon is not that it will have to close its doors," he asserted, "but loss of mission ... We are going to have to maintain our quality oriented mission."
Provost Wessells followed up on President Brand's remarks with a report on a teleconference during which other Western Interstate Compact on Higher Education (WICHE) institutions described struggles with budgetary concerns similar to those facing the University of Oregon.
MOTION ON THE CLUSTER REQUIREMENT
At 3:30 p.m., Mr. Nicols presented the following motion which was passed by the University Senate on October 13, 1993:
Section A of the current Assembly legislation on general education requirements is amended to read:
"A. Sixteen credits in approved group satisfying courses in each of three areas. Sciences. Social Sciences and Arts and Letters. In each of the three areas. courses must be completed in at least two subjects (prefixes!. and at least two courses must be completed in one subject (prefix)."
This legislation is to be effective for current University of Oregon students as soon as it is enacted by the Assembly.
Mr. William Strange, English, seconded the motion.
Mr. Nicols explained that the motion originated last year in the Academic "Requirements Committee, and had been discussed with representatives from _ across the University. Noting that even under the best of conditions, students have had problems completing the cluster requirement, he reported that the Academic Requirements Committee spends 30 to 40 per cent of its time dealing with petitions on clusters. Some of those petitions he called frivolous, but many he reported involve students who have transferred or who "have not been able to enroll every term." He described as even more difficult those petitions presented by students who claim they have conscientiously sought advising and been mis-advised about what constitutes a cluster.
Opining that in the past the cluster situation, though difficult, had been manageable, he proceeded to describe problems which have been intensified by the conversion to a credit based cluster of eight credits (rather than course based, with three courses).
University Senate President, Mr. Davison Soper, Physics, reported that the Senate's roll call vote on the motion was unanimous. He said the only debate was whether or not departments were aware of the motion, and that discussion indicated they were. He recalled that there was also discussion about the effective date of the legislation.
After Mr. John Beebe, Russian, raised a question relating to the number of courses which could be counted from one department, Mr. James Boren, English, moved the following amendment which was seconded by Ms. Marliss Strange, Academic Advising and Student Services:
No more than three courses in any one subject (prefix) may be counted toward meeting the total 48 hour requirement.
The amendment was adopted by voice vote with no audible dissent.
After receiving a "yes, but not probable" answer to his question as to whether the motion would make it possible to satisfy the requirement by taking courses with only Greek and Latin prefixes, Mr. J.T. Sanders, Religious Studies, moved the following amendment which was seconded by Mr. Beebe:
The word "departments" should be substituted for "subjects (prefixes)."
During the discussion on the amendment, Mr. Boren urged a "No" vote, opining that the legislation can not address every probability; President Brand agreed that the motion can't solve all possible problems since "we probably haven't found them all yet;" Ms. Jacobson-Tepfer reminded the Assembly that the University is considering ways to move students through to graduation as quickly as possible; and Mr. Soper stated that the language of the motion was carefully considered as he warned against "messing things up." Mr. Nicols issued a similar warning, noting that the term "department" is an administrative term, not one that describes the curriculum.
The move to substitute "departments" for "subjects (prefixes)" failed by a voice vote.
Commenting on the overall spirit of the discussion, Mr. Wright pointed out that the legislation did not propose a major change.
At one point during the discussion, Mr. Grant Calof, University Senator, raised a question about the effect the proposed legislation would have on graduation requirements in the professional schools.
FINAL ACTION ON THE AMENDED MOTION ON THE CLUSTER REQUIREMENT
After Mr. Soper's call for the question was approved by a voice vote, President Brand called for a vote on the motion as amended by the Assembly. The entire motion' as amended, reads as follows:
Section A of the current Assembly legislation on general education requirements is amended to read:
''A. Sixteen credits in approved group satisfying courses in each of three areas. Sciences. Social Sciences and Arts and Letters. In each of the three areas. courses must be completed in at least two subjects (prefixes!. and at least two courses must be completed in one subject (prefix)."
This legislation is to be effective for current University of Oregon students as soon as it is enacted by the Assembly.
No more than three courses in any one subject (prefix! may be counted toward meeting the total 48 hour requirement.
The Cluster Requirement motion, as amended, was approved by voice vote.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting of the Assembly adjourned at 4:59 p.m.
Nancie Fadeley Acting Secretary
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