Oakland University Senate
FIFTH MEETING
Thursday, January 18, 1979
3:15 p.m.
128, 129, 130 Oakland Center
AGENDA
Submitted by George T. Matthews for the Steering Committee.
A. Old Business
1. From the agenda of December 7, 1978 unamended motion from the School of Engineering concerning approval of a Constitution of the School of Engineering dated November 16, 1978 (Jackson/Hetenyi).
Second Reading; Motion only debatable, amendable and eligible for final vote at this meeting.
Comments:
1. Kindly refer to the agenda of December 7, 1978 for the full motion and copies of the document in question.
2. The Senate should consider approval of the Constitution only; the appended By-Laws should not be regarded as part of the Constitution per se.
2. From the agenda of December 7, 1978 motion unamended from the University Committee on Undergraduate Instruction concerning a change in the Writing Proficiency requirement (Kleckner/Hetenyi).
Second Reading Debatable, amendable and eligible for final vote at this meeting..
Comment: Kindly refer to the agenda of December 7, 1978 for the full notion.
3. From the agenda of December 7, 1978 motion unamended from the University Committee on Undergraduate Instruction concerning extension of double undergraduate degree requirements to "additional" degrees (Kleckner/ Heubel).
Second Reading- Debatable, amendable and eligible for final vote at this meeting.
Comment. Kindly refer to the agenda of December 7, 1978 for the full motion.
B. New Business
None
C. Good and Welfare: Private Resolutions
D. Informational Items
The Graduate Council wishes to inform the University Senate that on December 7, 1978 it approved the following motion (quoted here in full, including accompanying comments, as considered and passed by the Council):
"MOTION:
That the organization under which graduate study operates be named The Graduate School of Oakland University.
COMMENT: The mechanisms under which graduate study is conducted at Oakland have developed over the years in a form largely standard for American universities, a form which by now has as much sweep and intricacy as other such organizations. Yet our organization has never had a name such as the usual ones � graduate school, graduate college or graduate division � which embraces its totality. Oakland is thus distinguished from every one of the nine other public institutions � CMU, EMU, GVSC, MSU,MTU, NMU, U of MI, WSU and WMU-- and the two private institutions � Andrews and U of D -- seriously offering graduate work in Michigan. It is likewise distinguished from nearly every graduate institution in the United States. This is one distinction in which we can take little pride. For it serves no purpose, creates awkwardness in language because of its unconventionality;. and confuses outsiders � not to mention ourselves to the extent of disadvantaging our students, our graduates and our recruiting efforts. There is at least considerable inconvenience in not having standard and widely understood nomenclature available.
If approved by the council, the senate -- if it needs to be taken there � and the Trustees, the term '"graduate school'" would signify the totality of our graduate activities and the agencies of the university constituted expressly to deal with these activities. The agencies are the Graduate Council, the Office of Graduate Study and the Deanship of Graduate Study. Their function and their relationship to other parts of the university would in no way be altered nor would the name of the council. The office and dean would be called the Office of the Graduate School and the Dean of the Graduate School.
A question will undoubtedly arise as to whether this naming should give rise perforce to the creation of a separate graduate faculty. The answer to this question is no. While a majority of graduate schools do have graduate faculties, there are many -- that of MSU, for example � that do not. In the past when we have examined whether to create a graduate faculty, we have done so independently of the name question. There is no reason for that to change. Another question might well be raised as to whether our graduate organization is not characteristically different from other entities of the universities which are called schools. The answer to this question is yes, there is a substantial difference. But that is very much of the nature of graduate schools. Our structure is as specified and as complete as its counterparts in other graduate institutions.
In the view of the executive committee and the dean this matter is much more of form than substance. It would consist solely of the adoption of a name and not in any functional or jurisdictional change. It would, however, prove a boon to our graduate undertaking, to graduate students, and to the university. It is a small change but it is one that should have been made long ago."
Mr. G. Philip Johnson, Dean of Graduate Studies, by memo, dated January 5, 1979 to the Chair of the Senate Steering Committee informed the Steering Committee of this action and queried whether the action should simply be reported to the Senate, or whether it should be presented to the Senate as a formal motion of recommendation. The Steering Committee at its meeting of January 9, 1979 considered the constitutional question implied and decided that, in view of the relationship between the Graduate Council and the University Senate established by Article VI of the Constitution of the Oakland University Senate, an informational report was all that is required. The Graduate Council and the Dean of Graduate Studies should, in this instance, recommend directly to the president and the Board the desired change in name.