Oakland University Senate
Tenth Meeting
Thursday, April 19, 1973
3: 15 p.m.
128-130 Oakland Center
AGENDA
Submitted by Frederick W. Obear, for the Steering Committee.
A. Old Business
1. Motion from the Graduate Council (Mr. G. P. Johnson).
Second reading, eligible for final vote.
THAT THE UNIVERSITY SENATE APPROVE THE MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING PROGRAM IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AS PROPOSED BY THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AND APPROVED BY THE GRADUATE COUNCIL.
Comment: The program is the outgrowth of an early childhood teacher training activity which the School of Education has operated this year and last. That activity has had United States Office of Education support which will continue through next year. Outside reviewers and Office of Education examiners affirm the success of the pilot program in providing a carefully designed and suitable course of study for persons preparing specifically for pre-kindergarten and early grade teaching. There is considerable evidence of a large and growing need for early childhood teaching and wide interest among teachers in obtaining the instruction necessary to participate properly in this work. No other institution in Michigan provides preparation of the same scope and depth. For these several reasons the program promises to become a significant addition to Oakland's master's offerings. A general, description of the program was attached to the April 12 agenda. A more detailed description., the formal proposal submitted to the Graduate Council^ can be obtained from the Office of Graduate Study or the School of Education.
B. New Business
1. Motion from the Steering Committee (Mr. Obear).
First reading.
THAT THE UNIVERSITY SENATE SUPPORTS THE PROPOSAL FOR A NEW UNIVERSITY GOVERNANCE SYSTEM AS DESCRIBED BY THE UNIVERSITY COUNCIL CONSTITUTION AND RECOMMENDS THAT THIS CONSTITUTION BE SUBMITTED TO A REFERENDUM OF THE VARIOUS CONSTITUENCIES.
Comment: A copy of the proposed University Council Constitution was appended to the April 12 agenda. The Council would replace the University Senate, University Congress, and the A-P Assembly, which are the current internal governing groups.
President O'Dowd has asked the Senate for an advisory opinion on the proposed constitution; therefore, the Steering Committee has prepared the above motion to test Senate sentiment on the issue.
2. Motion from the Steering Committee (Mr. Obear).
Procedural motion, eligible for final vote.
THAT THE SENATE BE AUTHORIZED TO MEET AS NECESSARY DURING THE SPRING, 1973, TERM TO ACT ON PROPOSALS CONCERNING THE FOLLOWING SUBJECT:
UNIVERSITY COUNCIL
HEALTH SCIENCES PROFESSIONS
SCHOOL OF GENERAL STUDIES
SCHOOL OF PRESENTATIONAL ARTS
Comment: The University Senate Constitution provides that the agenda of meetings held during other than the fall and winter terms "shall be limited to the awarding of degrees and the conferring of honors, unless, by action of the Senate during the preceding winter semester specific additional items are authorized for the agenda." (Article V, Section vi.)
A number of proposals are not yet in proper form to bring before the Senate, yet it is important that action be taken on them before the end of the 1972-73 year, either because the proposed programs could begin in fall, 1973, or because admissions office activities should begin in fall, 1973, for programs with starting dates in 1974-75. A brie f written description of the items listed above will be provided to Senators at the April 19 meeting.
The Steering Committee has surveyed the Senate concerning availability of senators during the spring term and has found that the weekly percentage availability is 70-77% in May and 65-74% in June.
3. Information from the Steering Committee (Mr. Obear).
Merger of Charter and New Colleges: Starting in Fa1l 1973 the programs and faculties of Charter College and New College will be merged to form a new
entity called New-Charter College (NCC). In the past year, Charter and New Colleges began serious discussion of ways in which the two programs could become mutually supporting. Certain features of New College--the off-campus field term and the Arts Workshop --were attractive to Charter students and it was decided to open these courses to Charter students. In the meanwhile, curricular discussions within Charter College, centering around the definition of a first year core curriculum let in the directions of change. Increasingly, the two staffs thought in converging curricular terms and it was natural to consider ways to combine forces in times of declining enrollments. BY midyear it ha been decided to open up New and Charter Colleges' courses to each others' students.
Budgetary pressures intruded themselves into these somewhat leisurely discussions. The result was a quickly made, but entirely reasonable decision. why not fully combine forces to attract a maximum number of students, to conserve resources and bring the hitherto separate faculties and student bodies into active combination? New-Charter College was the result. In the Fall, separate Charter and New College courses will be dropped, and all courses will bear the NCC rubric and prospective students will enter NCC as one unit; they will choose between a first year program offered by former Charter faculty or a first year program offered by former New faculty. By arrangement with Learning Skills, that subject will be taught in NCC tutorials. Continuing students will move through a joint curriculum. Certain faculty of NCC have been authorized as advisers in the Arts and Sciences Independent Concentration, thus for the first time providing a program beyond general education for Inner College students. (Allport College is seeking also to offer a concentration.) Since the merger occurred but recently, all of the disjunctures of such a joining have not been eliminated. The problem of whether to use S/N or numerical grading is still being discussed.
Office of the Provost/or
4/13/73
April 18, 1973
To: THE UNIVERSITY SENATE
From: Frederick W. Obear, for the Steering Committee
Subject: Description of items on the Agenda of April 19, 1973,
New Business, B.2.
I. University Council:
This item has already been placed upon the Senate Agenda. Because of its critical importance to the structure of University Governance, ample time should be available for discussion and debate. II. The following items represent possible curricular and structural additions and changes, some elements of which are already under discussion in various segments of the University. At this time, it is difficult to predict which of, and in what form, these items will reach the Senate as substantive motions. But that some formal actions will be required seems certain. The paragraphs below attempt to present briefly the issues involved.
a. Health Science Professions
By memo of October 16, 1972, an interschool Study Committee on Health Science Professions was established by Vice Provost George T. Matthews with Professor Clifford Harding as chairman. In March, 1973, the Committee recommended, in a draft report, the establishment of several programs leading to the B.S. degree in the Health Science Professions. Among these. Medical Technology, Medical Physics, Environmental Health, and Biomedical Engineering seem capable of being launched in the Fall of 1973, with others, conspicuously a degree in Physician's Assistant, to follow in Fall, 1974. Except for Biomedical Engineering, programs contemplated for Fall, 1973, can be housed, at least until a more appropriate and permanent abode can be constructed, within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences so long as considerable exceptions to the standing requirements of that faculty's B.S. degree are granted. These programs are now being placed before the Committee on Instruction, Arts and Sciences. Meanwhile, providence has unexpectedly placed within the University's reach an important opportunity: [deleted] Hospital's School of Nursing has suggested an affiliation which could result in the establishment at Oakland by Fall, 1973, of a four year B.S.N. (Nursing). This suggestion is now under serious study. Should some form of affiliation seem reasonable, Senate action might be needed.
b. School of General Studies
On March 21, 1967, the Academic Senate (this present body's revered ancestor) was requested to support in concept the establishment of a new School of General Studies, and to authorize an ad hoc committee to study and recommend on a formal plan of operations for the School. At its meeting of April 7, 1967, the Academic Senate, after considerable discussion both in and out of the chamber, voted to return the proposal to the committee. For a variety of reasons, the proposal has until this date never formally been revived. The reasons for establishing a flexible set of undergraduate degree programs within an autonomous faculty and school, devised explicitly for new "adult" student populations and taught largely, but not necessarily exclusively at night and/or week-ends, are now even more compelling than six years ago, even though certain of the circumstances are quite different.
Six years ago we were concerned to differentiate the University's curricular patterns to accommodate an expected boom in enrollments. It was thought that an undergraduate General Studies curriculum in addition to those of the professional schools of Engineering, Economics-Management, and Performing Arts then developing, and the newly launched graduate studies in various disciplines, would permit an orderly growth of the University through the design of types of high quality undergraduate programs of value to "adult'' populations not adequately represented in the University's student body. Central to the concept was the attempt to stabilize the B.A. curriculum at a reasonable enrollment figure without crippling the University's rapid growth. These goals were consistent with the objective, defined in 1965, to develop the University as a comprehensive, complex institution.
Now we anticipate stable or declining enrollments unless new curricular options appealing to new student populations are developed. But the essential principle remains. Curricular patterns new to the University are needed, taught in formats and at times tailored to specific elements of the potential student body. Simply to superimpose these new patterns on the existing undergraduate curricula of Arts and Sciences, Economics-Management, Education, and Engineering would be educationally unwise and organizationally ineffective. Therefore, the concept of a School of General Studies should be seriously reconsidered. There is a high probability that the Senate will be asked to discuss proposals to this effect within the next month or so.
c. School of Presentational Arts and Sciences
Among curricular offerings at the undergraduate level, the University is badly represented (or not represented at all) in the area of Theatre Arts and Mass Communications (TV-Film- Radio-Media, Journalism). Paradoxically, the University has considerable strength of a non-credit bearing nature in these areas, especially Theatre Arts. There is currently on the agenda of the Committee on Instruction and the Assembly of Arts and Sciences proposals to begin undergraduate curricula in Theatre Arts, Mass Communications, and Journalism under the auspices of the Department of Speech Communications (a common practice in many colleges and universities) with students pursuing a bachelor's degree under sponsorship of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In these curricula the Academy of Dramatic Arts of the School of Performing Arts (credit bearing, but not degree program of limited enrollment). Meadow Brook Theatre (at present a totally non-degree, non-credit resource of great depth). Student Enterprise Theatre (a non-credit, non-degree extra curricular program of considerable merit, paid in part from operating funds through Student Affairs, and in part by student fees) would be drawn upon to assist in the creation of an undergraduate program in theatre. Such a program links closely with Mass Media and in turn Mass Media relates to Journalism. It is possible to house these curricula within Arts and Sciences as liberal arts majors.
But for the long term health of the Arts�musical, dramatic and visual�and those professional (and often technical) programs closely affiliated with them; for the better accommodation of those professional faculty associated with these Arts and Sciences; and for the long term organizational stability of the College of Arts and Sciences, it might be prudent to consider their location in an expanded School of Performing Arts, renamed Presentational Arts and Sciences. Such a school might include the professionally oriented B.Mus. programs (temporarily housed in Arts and Sciences as a B.S. in Music), Theatre Arts, Visual Arts, and Media and Human Communication Arts and Sciences. Discussion of the merits and demerits of the various alternatives available in this area of curricula development would be welcomed.
III. The President wishes to establish a new ad hoc commission on University Growth and Development whose concern it would be to meet regularly with University officers to study various alternative models of academic organization appropriate to the University's rate and pattern of growth in the next several years. Obviously, the items discussed In II above would be placed on this commission's agenda before action by the Senate would be recommended. The detailed composition of such a commission has yet to be developed; the Steering Committee and the Senate will be asked to give advice on this matter.
GTM:er