Oakland University Senate

April 14, 1970

MINUTES

PRESENT: Messrs. Akers, Barthel, Briod, Burdick, Burke, Butler, Cherno, Cramer, Davis, DeMent, Dutton, Gerulaitis, Gibson, Haskell, Heubel, Hildum, lodice, Phil Johnson, Kleckner, Mascitelli, Matthews, McKay, Obear, O'Dowd, Rue, Seeber, Simmons, Stern, Stoutenburg, Susskind, Tipler, Torch, Torgoff, Witt.
ABSENT: Messrs. J. Appleton, Beardman, Coon, Dovaras, Fernald, Good, Harding, Hetenyi, P.J. Johnson, Kent, Letvin, Miss Mattis, Messrs. Righter, Springfield, Swanson,
GUESTS: Many guests attended this meeting.

Chancellor O'Dowd called the meeting to order at 3:25 p.m.

The Chancellor informed the Senate of the details of Mr. Herbert Heidenreich's funeral.

New Business

Mr. Matthews moved the motion from the Assembly of the College of Arts and Sciences "that the Senate requests the Chancellor to seek authorization from the Board of Trustees for the College of Arts and Sciences to offer the degree of Bachelor of Science."

Seconded by Mr. Gerulaitis.

Final action on this motion will be taken at a subsequent meeting.

Mr. Philip Johnson moved to amend the Constitution of Oakland University as offered by the Graduate Council. "The Graduate Council shall be responsible for the recommendation to the Board of Trustees of all candidates for graduate degrees. Its presiding officer, the Dean of Graduate Study, shall be a member of the University Senate and the University Tenure and Appointment Policy Committee."

Seconded by Mr. Torch.

Final action on this amendment will be taken at a subsequent meeting.

* Mr. Obear moved the recommendation from the Steering Committee

"THAT THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTION OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL NOT BE AMENDED ON THE FLOOR OF THE SENATE."

Seconded by Mr. Stern. Motion adopted.

Mr. Obear moved the recommendation from the Steering Committee "That the Senate approve the Constitution of the Graduate Council."

Seconded by Mr. Gerulaitis.

Final action on the motion will be taken at a subsequent meeting.

* Mr. Obear moved the recommendation from the Steering Committee

"THAT ALLEN CHAMBERLIN, A STUDENT, BE APPOINTED TO FILL THE STUDENT SEAT IN THE LONG-RANGE DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE."

Seconded by Mr. Davis

* Mr. Davis moved "THAT THE ABOVE MOTION BE MADE ELIGIBLE FOR VOTE TODAY."

Seconded by Mr. Stern. Adopted.

Mr. Obear's motion was then adopted.

Note- This action is viewed as an exception because of a specific request from  the Committee to continue the work of the Committee through the summer months.

Old Business

Mr. Hetenyi's substitute motion to the ad hoc Blue Ribbon Commission on Educational Reform which dealt with endorsing the principles concerning standard and independent concentrations as described in Sections I A, B, and C, pages 4 and 5 of the Blue Ribbon Commission's final report was reintroduced for final vote at this meeting.

"That the University Senate further endorse the principles that a student may graduate with a bachelor's degree in an elective program with no major or concentration whatsoever, and refer this principle to the colleges and schools for consideration and implementation."

This amendment had been previously seconded by Mr. Burdick.

Mr. Stern moved to amend the Hetenyi substitute motion as follows:

"Those students who elect this curricular option shall have as their general education requirements only two Exploratories or equivalent and one Senior Colloquium or its equivalent."

Seconded by Mr. Tipler.

After considerable discussion, this amendment was not adopted.

* Mr. Seeber moved to amend the Hetenyi substitute motion that

"A PERIOD BE ENTERED AFTER THE WORD 'WHATSOEVER' AND TO DELETE THE WORDS 'AND REFER THIS PRINCIPLE TO THE COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS FOR CONSIDERATION AND IMPLEMENTATION.'"

Seconded by Mr. Iodice. Adopted.

* Mr. Simmons moved

"TO SEND THE HETENYI SUBSTITUTE MOTION AND THE SEEBER AMENDMENT BACK TO THE STEERING COMMITTEE FOR ASSIGNMENT TO THE APPROPRIATE COMMITTEE FOR STUDY AND RECOMMENDATION."

Seconded by Mr. Iodice. Adopted.

Mr. Davis reintroduced the recommendation from the ad hoc Blue Ribbon Commission on Educational Reform dealing with the principles concerning standard and independent concentration.

a. THAT THE UNIVERSITY SENATE ENDORSE THE PRINCIPLES CONCERNING STANDARD AND INDEPENDENT CONCENTRATIONS DESCRIBED IN SECTION I A, B, AND C, PAGES 4 AND 5 OF THE FINAL REPORT OF THE AD HOC BLUE RIBBON COMMISSION ON EDUCATIONAL REFORM, AND REFER THEM TO THE COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS FOR CONSIDERATION AND SPEEDY IMPLEMENTATION.

b. THAT THE UNIVERSITY SENATE MODIFY THE DEGREE REQUIREMENT FOR THE B.A. AND B.S. DEGREES SO THAT A STUDENT MAY GRADUATE WITHOUT A DEPARTMENTAL MAJOR. THIS LEGISLATION SHALL BECOME EFFECTIVE IN EACH SCHOOL OR COLLEGE UPON THE IMPLEMENTATION BY THAT SCHOOL OR COLLEGE OF THE STANDARD AND INDEPENDENT CONCENTRATION LEGISLATION DESCRIBED ABOVE."

This motion was previously seconded by Mr. Obear.

Mr. Simmons moved to amend paragraph "a" by "putting a period after the word 'consideration' and deleting the words 'and speedy implementation'."

Seconded by Mr. Gibson.

After considerable discussion, Mr. Simmons withdrew his amendment and Mr. Gibson his second in favor of the following amendment by Mr. Torch.

* Mr. Torch moved to amend paragraph "a"

"BY DELETING THE WORD 'SPEEDY' AND SUBSTITUTING THE WORDS 'WHEN AND IF POSSIBLE'."

Seconded by Mr. Gibson. Adopted.

* The main motion with the amendment was then adopted. (See below)

a. "THAT THE UNIVERSITY SENATE ENDORSE THE PRINCIPLES CONCERNING STANDARD AND INDEPENDENT CONCENTRATIONS DESCRIBED IN SECTIONS I A, B, AND C, PAGES 4 AND 5 OF THE FINAL REPORT OF THE AD HOC BLUE RIBBON COMMISSION ON EDUCATIONAL REFORM, AND REFER THEM TO THE COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS FOR CONSIDERATION AND WHEN AND IF POSSIBLE IMPLEMENTATION."

b. THAT THE UNIVERSITY SENATE MODIFY THE DEGREE REQUIREMENT FOR THE B.A. AND B.S. DEGREES SO THAT A STUDENT MAY GRADUATE WITHOUT A DEPARTMENTAL MAJOR. THIS LEGISLATION SHALL BECOME EFFECTIVE IN EACH SCHOOL OR COLLEGE UPON THE IMPLEMENTATION BY THAT SCHOOL AND COLLEGE OF THE STANDARD AND INDEPENDENT CONCENTRATION LEGISLATION DESCRIBED ABOVE."

Mr. Davis reintroduced the recommendation of the ad hoc Blue Ribbon Commission on Educational Reform dealing with the University's grading system. Previously seconded by Mr. Obear.

a. The grade 0.0 shall be abolished. Any student who registers for a course, and remains in it past the date upon which the final credit count is made, but who for any reason does not receive credit for the course, shall receive an N grade.

b. Each course shall be designated in the course schedule by the instructor, or by the department in the case of multi-sectioned courses, as available only on an ungraded "satisfactory-no credit" basis (S-N), or available on an optional graded or ungraded basis. 

Prior to the final drop deadline, each student shall indicate to the instructor of an optionally graded course whether or not he or she wishes to receive a grade.

At the end of the term, the instructor shall report either a grade, or "satisfactory" (S) or "no credit" (N), as instructed earlier by the student.

The instructor shall determine the standard required for an ungraded student to receive credit. The sole criterion shall be that the quality of the work be acceptable to the instructor for credit toward graduation. In no case, however, shall the standard be higher than that required for a graded student to obtain a grade of 2.0.

c. The term report shall be a complete record for the student, his or her adviser, and the accounting offices of all work for which the student was registered after the add deadline. It shall be an internal document. The transcript shall be a record of the student's academic work which he or she presents for credit toward graduation. It shall not show courses for which the student was registered but did not obtain credit. The transcript shall be available for external use at the request of the student.

d. For a student who presents 5 or more ungraded courses for credit, the requirement of a 2.0 grade point average for graduation may be waived by the Senate upon recommendation of the Academic Standing and Honors Committee.

Mr. Cherno moved to amend item "c" second paragraph, first sentence by "adding the words 'wishes to present' after the words 'he or she' and to delete the word 'presents'."

Seconded by Mr. Gerulaitis.

Mr. Simmons moved that the meeting be recessed until 3 p.m. Thursday, April 16. Seconded by Mr. Iodice.

The meeting was recessed at 5:25 p.m.

Submitted by
H. N. Stoutenburg, Jr.
Secretary
University Senate

* Motions and amendments adopted at this meeting.