Oakland University Senate
February 13, 1969
Agenda
To: Members of the University Senate
From: Donald D. O'Dowd, for the Steering Committee
Re: Agenda for the Meeting of February 13, 1969
The next meeting of the University Senate will be held on Thursday, February 13, at 3:30 p.m., in rooms 128-130 in the Oakland Center.
Note: The compilation, preparation, and distribution of the Senate agenda has grown so time-consuming that full distribution of the agenda plus the attachments is no longer feasible. The delay of one week in holding this meeting, for example, was occasioned by exactly this difficulty.
A new policy for the distribution of the agenda has been implemented as of this meeting. There are two transitional steps involved.
1. For the meeting of February 13, 1969, only the formal agenda has been distributed to the faculty, staff, and student body. The agenda plus the supporting documents and reports have been forwarded only to the members of the Senate, and to the deans, chairmen, and/or directors of academic and administrative departments.
2. For the meeting of March 6, 1969, and for every Senate meeting thereafter, only the full agenda with the attached documents and reports will be distributed, and it will be forwarded only to the members of the Senate, and to the deans, chairmen, and/or directors of academic and administrative departments. The latter are requested please to keep the completed agenda on file in their office for the reference of their colleagues and students.
This new policy will also govern the distribution of the minutes of the meetings of the University Senate.
Extra copies of the agenda and the minutes will be mailed to the directors of the several components of the Office of the Dean of Students, which will continue to post the material for the general information of the student body. In addition to reporting the news of the Senate periodically, the Faculty and Staff Bulletin will now also publish summaries of the Senate agenda in the editions immediately preceding the Senate meeting each month. Copies of the agenda and the minutes will continue to be distributed to The Observer.
New Business
1. Recommendations from the Graduate Study Committee. (Messrs. Tomboulian and O'Dowd)
The Senate is asked to approve the following amendment to the Constitution of the University Senate.
AMENDMENT I
GRADUATE COUNCIL
i. A GRADUATE COUNCIL SHALL BE CONSTITUTED WITH POWERS TO MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE UNIVERSITY SENATE FOR THE INSTITUTION OR TERMINATION OF ALL GRADUATE PROGRAMS OF INSTRUCTION, AND TO THE PROVOST, AND THROUGH HIM TO THE CHANCELLOR, WITH REGARD TO GENERAL AND SPECIFIC DEGREE REQUIREMENTS AT THE GRADUATE LEVEL. THE COUNCIL SHALL ADVISE THE DEAN OF GRADUATE STUDY ON ADMINISTRATIVE POLICIES PERTAINING TO THE OPERATION OF GRADUATE PROGRAMS.
ii. THE COUNCIL SHALL CONSIST OF THE DEANS OF THE ORGANIZED FACULTIES SPONSORING GRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMS; A FACULTY MEMBER SELECTED BY EACH DEPARTMENT AUTHORIZED TO OFFER A GRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAM (OR BY EACH COMMITTEE SERVING IN LIEU OF A DEPARTMENT FOR THE SPONSORSHIP OF A DEGREE PROGRAM); A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY; AND THE DEAN OF GRADUATE STUDY WHO SHALL SERVE AS CHAIRMAN IF THE ORGANIZED FACULTY SPONSORING GRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMS DOES NOT HAVE DEPARTMENTS, THEN IT SHALL BE REPRESENTED BY AT LEAST ONE FACULTY MEMBER SELECTED BY THAT ORGANIZED FACULTY.
iii. A SIX-MEMBER EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SHALL BE ESTABLISHED BY THE COUNCIL TO ACT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE BY-LAWS APPROVED BY THE COUNCIL. THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SHALL CONSIST OF FIVE MEMBERS ELECTED BY AND FROM THE COUNCIL AND THE DEAN OF GRADUATE STUDY WHO SHALL BE EX OFFICIO AND NON-VOTING. THE CHAIRMAN SHALL BE ELECTED BY THE COUNCIL.
Comment: The proposed amendment, entitled "Graduate Council," will provide legislative authority from the Senate establishing a governing body for the graduate programs. At the present time, the Graduate Study Committee has the status of a Standing Committee of the Senate charged "to study and recommend policies concerning programs leading to degrees beyond the baccalaureate."
In the tradition of higher education, graduate programs generally come under the control and guidance of graduate faculty members in a way that has not yet been achieved at Oakland. The North Central Association has made it very plain that in order to attain full accreditation for the graduate programs and obtain authority to develop new programs, Oakland must establish an adequate governing structure for Graduate Study. The device selected for building such a structure is expressed in this proposal, which will provide for a separate legislative body under the all-encompassing authority of the Constitution of Oakland University. This is an alternative to establishing a separate graduate faculty which has certain implications that many members of the faculty wish to avoid. A graduate faculty inevitably has the danger of fostering first- and second-class citizenship which might be harmful to the undergraduate programs of the university. A second complication which arises from creating a graduate faculty is that a number of departments would have representation in both the under-graduate and graduate faculties, thereby making the current pattern of Senate membership confused and probably inequitable.
The proposed amendment is designed to attain among others the following series of desirable ends:
1. It defines the graduate authority of the Senate in a manner wholly consistent with the pattern of Senate membership. The responsibility of the Senate will be to review all new graduate degree programs and decide whether they should be approved or disapproved in total and without amendment. That is, the University Senate may accept or reject a proposal for a new graduate degree program at the master's or doctoral level considering the program in its entirety. The University Senate also will have the right to approve or reject the termination of an established graduate degree program.
2. The Graduate Council will be responsible for making final decisions on the rules, regulations, practices and procedures governing the operation of the graduate degree programs. The Graduate Study Committee has been making policy in this area for the past two years, and it seems desirable at this time that the existing situation be reviewed by the Senate. The Graduate Council will take responsibility for examining admissions, registration, records, degree requirements, and other characteristics of established and new graduate degree programs. Under proposed Amendment I, the Graduate Council would have ultimate responsibility for writing the Graduate Bulletin in much the same way as the contents of the undergraduate catalog has been the responsibility of the Senate as a whole.
3. The role of the graduate dean will be clarified by the adoption of the proposed amendment, and he will be provided with an advisory body to guide him in administering the graduate programs. This is simply an adaptation of the existing relationship between the Graduate Study Committee and the Dean of Graduate Study.
4. The proposed amendment includes the key academic administrators in the Graduate Council and provides a seat for all interested departments in the policy-making structure for the graduate programs. This represents an improvement over the current Graduate Study Committee which excludes too many departments from an opportunity to participate directly in graduate policy determination.
5. This new structure should strengthen the position of the university in its search for a dean to give leadership to the graduate programs. The dean will have adequate authority with the advice of faculty members to proceed in the development of the graduate programs. He will have a central role in administration and policy determination for these programs.
Ideally, this amendment should be approved and implemented before the university undertakes major responsibilities for the development of doctoral level work, This new legislative structure will strengthen our appeal for support of additional graduate programs both with the relevant state agencies and the North Central Accrediting authorities.
2. Recommendation of the Academic Policy Committee. (Messrs. Lowy and Seeber)
The Senate is asked to approve the following motions:
a. THE SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT SHOULD BE ACTIVATED ON JULY 1, 1969, WITH THE AUTHORITY TO GRANT THE DEGREE "BACHELOR OF SCIENCE."
b. THE CURRICULUM OF THE SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT IS APPROVED FOR IMPLEMENTATION ON JULY 1, 1969, AND FOR INCLUSION IN THE 1969-70 EDITION OF THE UNIVERSITY CATALOG.
The proposed curriculum is outlined in Appendix A, pages 1-4 (attached) of the report entitled, "'Goals and Philosophy for a School of Economics and Management." The main report and Appendix B, designed to provide background information and illustrative material on the proposed school, are also attached.
3. Report of Steering Committee Activities. (Mr. O'Dowd)
a. Three new faculty members were appointed to the Commission on Student Life to fill vacancies created by recent resignations. The nominees were: Messrs. Barthel, Ozinga, and Tower. All three gentlemen have accepted the invitation to join the Commission.
b. The Steering Committee accepted the unanimous recommendation of the Library Committee that Mrs. Gertrude White of the Department of English be designated the new chairman of that committee. Mrs. White will serve the unexpired term of Mr. Hoopes, who has resigned from the committee.
c. Mr. Harvey Arnold of the Department of Mathematics was nominated to serve the unexpired term of Mr. Malm on the Library Committee. Mr. Malm is on sabbatical leave during the winter, 1969, semester. Mr. Arnold has accepted the nomination.
WFS:ljm
2/7/69
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