MINUTES OF THE DECEMBER 9, 1992 MEETING OF THE UNIVERSITY SENATE

ROLL: Present--Bennett, Bolton, Bolt, Brick, Clark, Ferguson, Goldstein, Gwartney-Gibbs, Hall, Harvey, Hasek, Hibbard, Hubin, Kahle, Kelley, Klos, S. Lee, Lesage, Meyer, O'Brien, Osternig, Pickett, Sheridan, Sprague, Steeves, Stuhr, Tepfer, Thomas, Trombley. Excused--Brandon, Calof, Forell, Frank, Gilkey, Gilland, Laskaya, Mitha, Pope, Rothbart, Soper, Squires, Wixman. Absent---Albrich (2), Collins (3), O'Connell (2), R. Lee, (1).

Senator Collins has been removed from the roll of the University Senate as she has missed 3 meetings.

CALL TO ORDER/APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The meeting was called to order by Senate President Michael Hibbard at 3:35 p.m., in Gilbert 133 on December 9, 1992. The minutes of the November 11, 1992 meeting were approved with one correction in the amendment offered by Senator Gilland on the motion from Mr. Anderson (p. 5, third paragraph) amendment to #4, the bold portion should have the word programs and not the word access in the amendment. With this correction the minutes were approved.

Senator Harvey, Chair of the Senate Rules Committee, informed the Senators that the Rules Committee would meet on the following dates (first column) to work on proposed legislation that will be on the agenda at the Senate meeting (second column). Senator Harvey stated that the Rules Committee would be "hard nosed" about these dates and that the Chair of the Rules Committee had to have in hand any proposed legislation by the date in the first column or the legislation would not be on the agenda for the meeting scheduled in the second column.

Any proposed legislation in accordance with Senate Rules must be in the hands of each Senator 10 days prior to a scheduled Senate meeting. The Rules Committee is charged with making sure that the legislation being proposed is "firmed" up and through the Rules Committee meeting with the person(s) involved in proposing legislation the work of the Senate can be directed to the motion itself and not in spending time making corrections, attempting to clarify the intent, etc.

REPORT OF THE NOMINATING COMMITTEE

Senator Tepfer reported that the Nominating Committee was bringing the name of Senate President Michael Hibbard to the floor as the candidate to fill the 1993-1996 position from the University of Oregon to the Interinstitutional Faculty Senate. No nominations were made from the floor and Senator Hibbard was elected by voice vote.

OLD BUSINESS

Mr. Frank Anderson, Chair of the Undergraduate Committee, was recognized to bring the following motion back to the floor of the Senate. The motion was introduced and debated at the meeting of November 11, 1992, but no final action was taken because the Senate lost its quorum. Since that date the Rules Committee and Mr. Anderson have met and made some revisions in the motion. This, then, is the motion as revised:

"PROPOSAL TO ESTABLISH AN UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION AND POLICY COORDINATING COUNCIL"

"There shall be established a council, to be known as the Undergraduate Education and Policy Coordinating Council, charged with reviewing and evaluating the quality of the University's undergraduate program. This Council shall make recommendations to the Senate, Assembly and other duly authorized governing bodies as necessary to guard and improve the quality of that program.

"This Council shall work in conjunction with standing committees that have responsibilities relating to undergraduate education.

"The charges to this Council shall include:

"Any member of the university community can propose agenda items and issues for consideration by the Council.

"A majority of the Council is needed to send proposed legislation and policy recommendations to standing committees, the University Senate, and the Office of the Provost for consideration and action.

"The membership of the Undergraduate Education and Policy Coordinating Council shall composed as follows:

"Faculty appointments will be for two year periods with at least half of the Council being new each year. Initial appointments will thus be for one and two years. The Chair of the Council will be elected for a one year term from among the appointed faculty representatives."

Mr. Anderson made a short presentation concerning the motion and the vote was called. By voice vote the motion passed.

Mr. Jack Whalen, Chair, Committee on the Curriculum, made the following motion:

"The University Committee on the Curriculum moves that the following curricular changes be approved. If approved, they will into effect fall term 1993 unless specified otherwise.

"The Committee further recommends that:

"The existing credit ranges were established by vote of the University Assembly. The larger ranges are in this report in anticipation of more 4- and 5-credit courses in 1994-95, but departments are not required to offer individual courses at the maximum credit range. The committee does not recommend changing the assembly-mandated credit ranges for 196 Field Studies (1-2R)."

Under the direction of Mr. Whalen the Senate commenced to travel through the report page by page. When pages 25-28 were reached Senator Bennett was recognized to make an observation that with the closing of Speech (Rhetoric and Communication) so many programs within the UO and programs that our students transfer into at other institutions that require some type of Speech course for admission or the granting of a credential will cause our own students to suffer because of these closures. Senator Lesage stated that the courses had maintained small enrollments so that the student would benefit, but the small courses were not cost effective and thus they were looked upon as a financial burden.

Senator Henry Goldstein inquired about the 4xx/5xx courses. What would be acceptable to grade a graduate student differently than an undergraduate student in these dual enrolled classes? Would giving the same test, but grading the graduate harder be satisfactory? Mr. Whalen stated that the direction to make sure that some standards did exist were prompted by a discussion previously in the Senate and the Assembly and with the Graduate School. That the standards would be additional assignments with more challenge for the graduate student and an anticipation of meeting a higher standard of performance.

On page 66 Senator Bennett wondered about the problems created by the dropping of so many Social Science satisfying courses. Speech: Rhetoric and Communication offered some excellent courses that satisfied the Social Science group requirement and now without these courses a real bottle-neck will result for the lower division student. President Brand asked if this was a problem and if students will get stuck in the pipeline and thus be put into a position that graduation will be delayed. Mr. Whalen stated that this could become a problem as Departments and Schools/Colleges have to do a better job of balancing what is being dropped and what is required for a degree. It would be best of a real discussion commenced on this problem as the problem at present is unavoidable.

Senator Bennett stated that TCI 241-242 were now dropped and that this cluster had 250 seats each term that are now gone. Mr. Arnold Ismach, Dean, Journalism, stated that no permanent decisions have been made on the offerings, and that the sorting out process over the obligations of the School is continuing. President Brand inquired as to who will look into this problem and resolve the situation so that no insurmountable problem is created. Senator Hubin suggested that the newly formed Educational Policy Council should undertake this problem right away. Mr. Whalen added that next year more changes would be forthcoming and the impact on each other would need some coordination and study.

On page 72 the second sentence in the paragraph concerning the International Institute of Sport and Human Performance is to be dropped as the sentence is not accurate. By voice vote this sentence was removed.

The Senate now started on the Journalism Addendum to the Curriculum Report. On page A-6 of this addendum Mr. Ismach moved to amend that "major" be changed to "program" in the Changes in Names of Majors part of this page. Ms. Nan Coppock-Bland, Associate Director of University Publications and Bulletin Editor, stated that the word program was the only term acceptable as major had a different definition. Mr. Tim Gleason, Journalism, added that the Registrar would have difficulty with "program" and thus Mr. Ismach withdrew his motion to amend.

The motion to accept the Report of the Curriculum Committee as amended was passed by a voice vote. President Hibbard noted that 2 voices voted "no" and one "abstained."

President Brand, in commenting on what had just transpired in the passing of the Report, stated that the final decision to close various departments and a college was a part of this Report. The physical evidence of the impact of Measure 5 has been visible before, but the visual impact of seeing these individuals programs, classes, degrees, departments and a college being removed from the University of Oregon curriculum offerings is staggering and sobering. Measure 5 has had an impact and he wondered what further evidence people needed to see that evidence.

Senator Bennett was recognized to read the following motion:

"Beginning Fall 1993, the University of Oregon will no longer accept transfer credits from other institutions which were passed with a grade of "D."

Senator Bennett stated that transfer students have problems with courses that follow in a way building upon the course that had a "D." It was moved to amend the motion to read "Beginning Winter 1994".... as the Office of Admissions has noted that Fall 1993 would be too tight to inform all prospective transfer students about the change. The motion to amend passed by voice vote.

Senator Thomas suggested that transfer credits denied would discourage enrolling students. "D" is a passing grade on this campus even though it hurts the GPA, but if a "D" is not a passing grade then we should change our rule accepting the "D" as passing. Why make a difference between a campus "D" and a transfer "D"?

Senator Clark wondered if one transferred in with an Associate Arts degree that contained some "D" grades would the "D" grades be acceptable? Senator Bennett stated that the grades of "D" would be accepted. He further stated that Portland State University does not accept the grade of "D" on the transcripts of transferring students. Senator Hubin asked if Mr. James Buch, Admissions, had addressed the problem of block transfers?

The vote on the motion was by hand and showed the motion passing by a vote of 14 yes and 13 no. A call of the roll for the vote was requested and that vote showed a division of 14 yes, 12 no and 1 abstention.

The motion passes but automatically goes to the University Assembly for final action at the 6 January meeting of that body.

ADJOURNMENT

The business of the meeting having concluded the Senate adjourned at 4:50 p.m. Keith Richard Secretary


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