Oakland University Senate

January 14, 1965

Agenda

MEMORANDUM
January 11, 1965

TO:  All Members of the Senate

FROM:  Donald D. O'Dowd, for the Steering Committee

RE:  Agenda for Meeting of January 14, 1965

The next meeting of the Senate will be on Thursday, January 14, 1965, at 4:00 p.m. in room 126-7 of the Oakland Center.

A. Old Business

1. Visit of student representatives of the group studying the possibility of reorganizing student government. This meeting was approved at the December 18 meeting of the Senate. It was agreed that the session with the students should be limited to thirty minutes.

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.

Mr. Hetenyi moved and Mr. Cherno seconded the following amendment:

"The last two sentences of the main motion should be eliminated."

B. New Business

1. Recommendations from the Committee on Academic Standing and Baccalaureate Honors (Mr. Sells)

a. (1) "That the Registrar's list of candidates for the bachelors degree distributed at the meeting be approved by the Senate."

(2) "That the nominees for University Honors be approved by the Senate."

(3) "That the nominees for Departmental Honors be approved by the Senate."

(It is requested that the Senate authorize a final vote on the two preceding motions at this meeting.)

2. Report of Steering Committee Activities (Mr. O'Dowd)

The Committee on Instruction has designated Professor Robert Simmons Foreign Study Program Adviser for 1964-65 in accordance with established practice.

DDO'D:ird