Senate Members in Attendance: Phil Sell; Richard Plagge; John Pfeffer; Maggie Brown; Angi Caster; Barbara Smith; Vickie Ropp; Glen Avantaggio; Eric Baer; Michael Cicero;   Jack Harton; Lea Ann Pratt

Faculty Forums

Phil stated that the Distance Learning Committee had called a faculty forum for November 30th.  He noted that last year Dr. Command had given the senate the responsibility of scheduling these.  He questioned the members as to whether we did or not.  Discussion followed both for and against. It was decided that the senate needs to develop a process that is efficient, timely, and accessible to facilitate the scheduling of these forums. Phil stated that he will e-mail a reminder to all faculty on this process.

A forum on Campus Communication is tentatively scheduled for the second week of January.  This forum was requested by Susan Landgraf.

A forum on grade standardization is scheduled for January 25, 2000. This forum was requested by Eric Baer.

Issues

Writing Skills application requirement

This discussion was continued from the previous Senate meeting.  Phil Sell stated that Ruth Windhover had requested that the senate wait to act on this issue until the Writing department could meet and discuss it further as a department.  It was questioned as to how long should we wait for interested parties to come forward before we act on issues.  Vickie Ropp noted that there were instructors that were not a part of earlier discussion and they were long-term, long standing people in the department. Phil stated that this was aside from this particular issue but historically the senate has been guilty of dragging its feet on issues. Phil questioned the senate as to whether we should delay or proceed with the issue at hand. It was noted that the Writing department is not opposed to this issue, but they want to discuss it before we proceed on it.

Eric Baer made a motion which was seconded by Dick Plagge. The motion:

The Faculty Senate proposes that there be a Writing Intensive Course requirement as part of the Associate of Arts Degree.  Specifically the requirement would be one, 3-5 credit course that includes writing as an integral and major part of its curriculum.   The criteria for designating a course as Writing Intensive (WI) are to be developed by a committee formed by the Instructional Cabinet in consultation with the Senate.   This requirement may be met within the current 90 credit requirement by completing a WI course that also meets the distribution requirement.  It cannot be satisfied by means of communication requirement courses.

Discussion followed.  Glen Avantaggio questioned why the motion doesn't state two courses as was proposed in the CO 20/20 report.  Phil stated that he wrote the motion after lengthy discussion with Wendy Swyt.  Wendy, along with a group of "experts," stated that we should start with a requirement of one WI course, then build to two courses.  Glen questioned the rationale of this to be that we wanted to see if the one course worked and then to make the second requirement at a later time.   Eric remarked that he wanted to have at least two courses required.  Glen then questioned why we don't work the second course into the motion to be enacted at a later date, instead of having to go through all of this again.  Several senators noted that they would not support this until they knew that the one course requirement worked, before tieing us into the second course requirement.    Phil noted that it is a function of the Senate to continually review degree requirements and this would be part of its role.  John noted that we need to be sure that there are opportunities for the night students to get the WI courses as well as the day students. 

Maggie Brown noted that this issue is not widely supported by instructors in the Social Sciences Division.  She noted that politically for her group would be better to start with one.  She quoted her division's comments showing opposition to the writing intensive course requirement.  Eric stated that his division is very supportive of this issue. Michael Cicero asked as a point of information where this would go if approved by the senate.  Phil stated that we vote for the faculty as elected representatives of the divisions.  Michael noted that we need to get faculty wide support of this before we pass it.  He stated that he didn't feel that this would be universally popular among all faculty and that it would be fairly controversial.  He noted that he wouldn't be comfortable casting a vote for the Business Division without having a ballot from them.  Phil remarked that it is not written anywhere that you would have to do this before voting. Phil noted that you should be voting as a representative of your division. Senators need to solicit division members' opinions and stands on issues. 

Eric proposed having students take Writing 101 before taking the WI courses, so that they could move beyond the Writing 101 levels.  He noted that he didn't want to make it a prerequisite for the course, but the prerequisite for getting the WI credit.  It was noted that this would be a recording problem.  Eric remarked that he wanted to see students writing better, not just writing more. It was again noted that the Writing department would like to be able to meet to discuss it before the senate acted on it.

Angi moved to table the motion until the December 1 meeting. Michael seconded. Motion tabled.

FACTC

Phil distributed copies of the FACTC Focus to the Senators.  He requested that the copies be given to faculty members in their divisions.  He will distribute copies to the administrators and others who are interested.

Meeting adjourned 4:00 pm

Lea Ann Pratt
Faculty Senate Secretary
November 30, 1999