Undergraduate Council Minutes of Meeting October 31, 2000 Attending: H. Chereck, M. Fishlen, H. Gerdes, C. Hickman, R. Koch, A. Leavitt, J. Nicols, KJ Park, S. Ponder, S. Pratt, K. Roberts, M. Smith, K. Sprague, R.Zimmerman Absent: F.Chadwell, P. Engelking, W. Gottshall, W. Mitchell, G. Utsey J. Nicols indicated that Carol White no longer will be staff to the UC. K. Sprague will arrange for someone from the Undergraduate Studies area to be support for the group. General Education – Courses that Lose Group StatusH. Chereck noted the problems that arise when a course loses group status. From his meeting with H. Gerdes, M. Strange, and V. Lo, it was concluded that unless course content changes significantly, the course numbers should not change. It was their thought that it was inappropriate to change course numbers every time group status was changed. A request was made by Computer and Information Science to remove CIS 121 from the list of courses that satisfy the science requirement because the course has been revised for the CIT minors, and she felt the content was not sufficient to justify its presence on the list. Chereck noted that CIS courses 120 and 123 have already been approved by the college course committee as not qualifying for group status and hoped that by approving 121, they can go as a “package.” R. Zimmerman indicated that the request has to come from the department, and the UC should provide guidance. Chereck also noted that 120 and 123 have an enrollment of about 330 students, but it is unknown how many are taking the courses for the CIT minor. Nicols noted that the discussion should be restricted to the broader problem of consequences for withdrawing courses and not be limited to one specific area. A. Leavitt was concerned about the students in the pipeline who have taken one of the courses and need the other; but R. Koch indicated that there are many other courses students can take to meet the requirement. Chereck noted that it is unfortunate that P. Engelking (chair of the Committee on Courses) is unable to attend meetings of the UC this term because of a conflict as his input is valuable because of his connection with the Committee on Courses. Nicols noted that the UC needs a letter from the department first before it can take any action. Zimmerman and Fishlen will update the UC at the next meeting. A listing of courses not taught within the last three years was circulated. Chereck indicated that unless the courses are planned to be taught in the next year, they will be dropped. Nicols questioned retaining group status on these courses if the courses are kept. Chereck noted that the list is not current and he will send an updated list to Carol for posting on the web. Nicols then moved on to item 4 of the agenda—the number of courses a student may take from a subject code to satisfy group requirements. There was much discussion about the items and the wording of each. There was also discussion about departments increasing their requirements for the major and using more of the 180 credits a student needs to graduate. It was suggested that 4(b) become 5(c) as this is important for transfer students. It was noted that there might be problems for the professional schools because, on the whole, majors in the professional schools are required to take more courses as for their major requirements—especially of note would be Education and Music. K.Roberts noted that there are some courses for premajors that also satisfy the requirement. If students become majors, they would be penalized by the rule of not allowing group satisfying courses in their major. Referring back to 4(b), K.Sprague suggested putting the statement in the negative; i.e., may not use more than three courses from the same subject code to satisfy group requirements. Chereck said there is still a problem with this. It might work for most departments but what about departments like Multimedia Design and East Asian Languages which do not have a defined subject code? As the time was approaching the end of the meeting, the members decided there was a need for more discussion before approving the statements. Nicols thanked Carol White for her service on the Council for five years. A new person from the Undergraduate Studies area will be appointed as staff for the UC. Meeting adjourned at 10:05 Minutes submitted by Carol White Next meeting: Tuesday, November 14, 9:00 am, Rogue Room of the EMU. 
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