Oakland University Senate
December 18, 1964
Agenda
MEMORANDUM
December 16, 1964
TO: All Members of the Senate
FROM: Donald D. O'Dowd, for the Steering Committee
RE: Agenda for Meeting of December 18, 1964
The next meeting of the Senate will be on Friday, December 18, 1964, at 4:00 p.m. in room 126 of the Oakland Center.
A. Old Business
1. Recommendation from the Committee on Instruction (Mr. Tomboulian)
a. The Committee on instruction has noted at faculty members occasionally find a student's name on their class list but the student has not been in their class. Checking with the Office of the Registrar sometimes reveals an error in registration but often no apparent error is detected. As an attempt to solve this problem, it is recommended that the Senate approve the following proposal:
"At any time up to the end of the seventh week, an instructor may request the Dean of Students to remove a student's name from his class list, provided that the student has not been attending class. The Dean of Students will take action appropriate to the case and inform the instructor accordingly. One of the options available to the Dean of Students will be to ask the Registrar to drop the student's name from the class list and give the student an N grade."
2. Recommendation from the 1963-64 Student Affairs Committee (Mr. Hildum)
a. The following recommendation was sent to the Steering Committee on February 26, 1964. Due to a very crowded agenda last winter it was not acted upon. It seems appropriate to submit the proposal to you at this time.
The Student Affairs Committee of last year recommended the following motion for approval by the Senate:
"An examination file shall be maintained by the University Library to provide all students with an opportunity to read copies of past examinations used in credit courses. All members of the faculty will supply copies of suitable examinations to the Library shortly after each examination is given."
This legislation will protect the faculty member from having to concern himself with individual requests for copies of previous exams. It will also equalize the access to old examinations among commuter and dormitory students, students who have many contacts and those who have few, transfer students and those who entered as freshmen at the same upper-class level. Finally, many students are encouraged to organize their thinking in a variety of ways as they formulate model answers to a number of questions on the same subject matter.
3. Recommendation from the Academic Affairs Committee (Mr. Hucker)
a. The Senate is asked to repeal the following legislation on midterm grades adopted October 27, 1960:
"That all faculty shall report for all first-term freshmen midterm grades who are failing or in serious danger of failing."
Explanation:
The use of the Student Report Form for freshman students that is now being directed by the Dean of Freshman's office provides more useful and more timely information than was provided under the old system. The Student Report Form provides a greater amount of information on the progress of the student, and it does not put the reporting faculty member under the constraint of contributing information that becomes a part of the permanent record.
B. New Business
1. Recommendation from the Committee on Instruction (Mr. Tomboulian)
a. The Committee recommends the adoption of the following motion:
"That the Registrar shall record non-credit courses in which a student is enrolled on the transcript and grade-report of the student with zero credits and a grade of S (satisfactory) provided that the instructor certifies that the work of the student is acceptable. If the work of the student is not acceptable, then no record of the non-credit course should appear on the transcript or the grade report."
2. Recommendation from the Academic Affairs Committee (Mr. Hucker)
a. The following motion should serve as an expansion and clarification of the legislation passed by the Senate last spring establishing the SDL organization of University Courses:
"Every first-time-in-any-college student must pass two seminar courses prior to admission to major standing. A student who has been unable to pass two seminar courses may not be admitted to major standing and consequently may not be retained in the University. A transfer student is required to take seminar courses only when he has not completed the equivalent of one year of English writing at another university. If a student has completed a writing course at another university, he can satisfy the UC requirements in discussion and lecture sections."
Explanation:
The motion reflects the intention of the SDL legislation when it was discussed and developed by the Academic Affairs Committee last winter. The haste with which the legislation was presented to the Senate and voted on did not provide an opportunity to explore all of its implications and to spell out all the limitations that are necessary for its implementation.
It has been observed this fall that freshman students who are getting into academic difficulty are choosing to drop the seminar course and go on with their other three courses as full-time students. This action evades the primary intention of the SDL plan to expose every student to intensive writing instruction in the seminars. Just as we would not have permitted a student in the past to go on to the sophomore or junior year without having completed a year of English studies, so we should not permit a student to proceed without intensive experience in writing under the seminar program.
We propose that this legislation be retroactive to the beginning of this fall semester for all new freshman students.
3. Recommendation from the Steering Committee (Mr. O'Dowd)
a. The following notion is presented for approval:
"That members of the student group considering the possibility of reorganizing student government be invited to a subsequent meeting of the Senate to present their views and ask any questions of the Senators that they deem appropriate. This visit should be limited to thirty minutes duration."
DDO'D:ird