Oakland University Senate
January 21, 1963
Agenda
MEMORANDUM
January 16, 1963
TO: All Members of the Senate
FROM: Donald D. O'Dowd, for the Steering Committee
RE: Agenda for Meeting of January 21, 1963.
The next meeting of the Senate will be on Monday, January 21, at 4:00 P.M. in room 126-7 Oakland Center.
A. Old Business
1. Consideration of the motion introduced by the Academic Affairs Committee at the meeting of December 17. (Mr. Matthews) Regulation regarding final examination period;
Instructors shall not give any type of written examination the calendar week immediately prior to the period designated for final examinations at the end of the semester.
B. New Business
1. Recommendations from the Academic Affairs Committee. (Mr. Matthews)
a. Granting of Credit by Petition (see attachment).
Course Exemption with Credit
"In exceptional cases and upon recommendation of the department concerned, the Committee on Instruction may award credit provided, however, that such credit does not exceed 20 per cent of the credits earned for a degree at MSUO."
b. Graduation Requirements in Effect (see attachment).
"The graduation requirements are those currently in effect. In instances where these impose a hardship, the student may petition the Committee on Instruction for an exception."
2. Recommendations from the ad hoc Commencement Committee. (Mr. Stoutenburg)
a. The three levels of academic honors, cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude, may be awarded to students in the upper 10% of the graduating class or to students who have earned a cumulative grade point average above 3.49.
b. The graduates awarded the degree summa cum laude must be in the upper one percent of the graduating class and have a cumulative grade point average above 3.74. The percentages of students to receive the degree magna cum laude and cum laude will be determined by the appropriate committee within the limitations of recommendation "a."
c. The awarding of the degree with honors will be based only on MSU Oakland credits, and the student must have completed his last 16 courses at MSU Oakland.
d. Departmental Honors should be awarded to outstanding graduating seniors. The establishment of criteria and the selection of outstanding graduating seniors for departmental honors will be the responsibility of the department.
e. All graduates will be granted a Bachelor of Arts degree except Engineering Science graduates who will be granted a Bachelor of Science degree.
3. Further discussion of the proposed University Emblem. (Mr. Varner)
4. Report of Steering Committee Activities. (Mr. O'Dowd)
DDO'D-.ird
att. 2
December 20, 1962
TO: Members of the Senate
FROM: P. Tomboulian, Chairman, Committee on Instruction
SUBJECT: Granting of Credit by Petition (to be placed on agenda of on November 17, 1960, the Senate adopted the following regulation:
"Any student giving evidence of proficiency in any course required for graduation may, upon petition to the Dean of the Faculty, be granted permission to demonstrate this proficiency. If the results are satisfactory, he may be exempted from this graduation requirement but will receive no credit in the course."
On September 25, 1962, the Committee on Instruction modified the proposal slightly to fit our present administrative structure:
COURSE EXEMPTION WITHOUT CREDIT
"A student may petition a department or program director for exemption from any course, and upon satisfying the department (or program director) concerned may be exempted from the course. Such exemption will be certified by the department and notification will be sent to the Registrar and the student's adviser."
This outlines our current operating procedures. There have been a few instances where a student has done college level work, either on an informal basis or in a non-college context, and credit can not be given under present regulations. In order that some official recognition (credit hours) be given, the Committee on Instruction recommends to the Senate a supplement to the proposal above:
COURSE EXEMPTION WITH CREDIT
"In exceptional cases and upon recommendation of the department concerned, the Committee on Instruction may award credit provided, however, that such credit does not exceed 20 per cent of the credits earned for a degree at MSUO."
This procedure would permit, for instance, a student well prepared in a particular area the chance to demonstrate his proficiency and receive credit for it, rather than having to officially register and restudy a semester of material with which he is familiar. He could instead pursue advanced courses and graduate at a higher level than where he would have without this option. In order to control the extent to which this privilege may be used, the Committee suggests an upper limit of 20% to the credit allowed. This is relatively arbitrary, since it is the spirit of the request which the Committee feels to be important.