Academic Senate Youngstown State University Youngstown, Ohio  44555

Note:  Agenda items for the February 2 Senate meeting should have been submitted to Bege Bowers, English Department, by 5:00 p.m. Friday, January 21.  For the future, provide both hard copy and a disk copy in Word 6/95 or rich text format if you want material to appear in the online agendas and minutes.  Agendas and minutes will be posted at the Academic Senate web site: <http://www.ysu.edu/acad-senate/>.  A downloadable cover sheet is available at the web site.
 
 

Topics presented/discussed: proposed changes to the Senate Charter and Bylaws; proposed changes to academic standards on semesters; general education.

Actions:

• The following motion carried:  to accept for mail balloting the proposed Charter revision to reflect conversion from quarters to semesters (proposed revision was attached to the agenda).

• The following motion carried: to accept, with an editorial change suggested by Charles Singler, the proposed revisions to the Bylaws to reflect the conversion from quarters to semesters (proposed revisions were attached to the agenda).

• Motions to accept five of the Academic Standards Committee’s seven items pertaining to semesters (items 1, 3-5, and 7) carried.

Call to Order:

Jim Morrison, chair of the Academic Senate, called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting:

Minutes of the 1 December 1999 Senate meeting were approved as distributed.

Senate Executive Committee / Report from the Chair: Jim Morrison reported:
 

• The Senate Executive Committee (SEC) has met several times since the last meeting and has asked several Senate committees to address some pressing matters.  The Academic Standards Committee report today comes in response to that request.  The Student Academic Affairs Committee and the Student Academic Grievance Subcommittee are reviewing their charges and procedures and matters pertaining to the rewriting of the student Code.  The Academic Events Committee will review existing events such as graduation and honors convocation ceremonies, as well as some possible new events.

• Some of the SEC’s discussion has focused on its meetings with YSU presidential candidates during their campus visits.

• The February 2 Senate meeting will be the last meeting for which Senate minutes are distributed in hard copy.  Bob Hogue and Bege Bowers created a Senate web site, and the minutes of the December 1999 meeting are now online.  Minutes of today’s meeting and all subsequent meetings will appear on the web site. To get to the web site, click on “Academic Senate” under the “Around Campus” heading on the YSU homepage, or go directly to <http://www.ysu.edu/acad-senate/>.  (Senate agendas, a list of current Senate committee members, and other Senate items also appear on the web site.  The Charter and Bylaws will be uploaded soon.)

• Because minutes and agendas will appear online, please submit the reports you deliver during Senate meetings, as well as your agenda items, to Bege Bowers both in hard-copy form and as a file in Word 6/95 or rich text format.  You can download an electronic copy of the cover sheet from the web site.

Charter and Bylaws Committee: Committee chair Dale Harrison referred to several of the items the committee had attached to the agenda (minutes of the committee’s November 23 meeting and two items from Brandon Schneider, student representative at-large to the Senate). The committee will meet with Schneider, continue to consider the matters, and report at a future Senate meeting.

The rest of the report focused on proposed changes to the Senate Charter and Bylaws.

Harrison referred to the summary of proposed semester-related changes attached to the agenda.  He made an editorial change to delete the specific dates of the new contract (item 2 in the summary).  Charles Singler asked for an additional editorial change: in the proposed revision for Bylaw 4, 1 (c), replace “December 1” with “at the conclusion of the December Senate meeting or, in the absence thereof, on December 1.”

Harrison moved that the Senate accept for mail balloting the proposed Charter revision (attached to the agenda) to reflect conversion from quarters to semesters.  The motion was seconded, a vote was taken, and the motion carried.

Changes to the Charter require a 2/3 affirmative vote of the faculty by mail ballot. Article II, section 3, of the Charter defines “faculty” as “those employed as full service personnel who hold academic rank and are paid, at least in half-part, by one or more academic departments.”

Harrison then moved that the Senate accept, with the change Charles Singler mentioned earlier, the proposed revisions to the Bylaws to reflect the conversion from quarters to semesters (the proposed changes were attached to the agenda). The motion was seconded, a vote was taken, and the motion carried.

Changes to the Bylaws require an affirmative majority vote in the Senate; Bylaws changes become effective if there are no challenges during the challenge period.

Elections and Balloting Committee:  No report.
 

Castronovo moved that the Senate accept, in one vote, six of the “motions” listed on the Academic Standards Committee’s handout (see Appendix A):  numbers 1-5, plus number 7 (i.e., all except number 6).  The motion was seconded, and discussion followed.

Brandon Schneider moved that we amend number 4 to say “21 hours or more per semester” instead of “18 hours or more per semester.”  The motion to amend was seconded, and discussion followed.

George McCloud:  The committee discussed this matter extensively and felt 21 hours would be a high number to take on semesters without some vetting.  If there is a justification for taking more than 18 hours, the student can seek approval.

Charles Singler:  Twenty-six hours—the number of hours permitted on quarters—was excessive.  However, the 18-hour stipulation on semesters would have a significant impact on the better students, such as honors students, who regularly take 18 or more hours per term.  I think 21 is a reasonable number of hours for semesters.

Schneider:  I proposed 21 hours because that will make seven courses the cutoff—since most semester courses will be 3-hour courses.  Also, one must average 16 hours a semester to graduate in four years.

Nancy White:  Someone seems to have applied the 2/3 rule in a place where it’s not applicable.  Students should be encouraged to take the same number of hours on semesters that they take on quarters.  However, not all courses will be 3-hour courses.

Patricia Sarro:  Perhaps the wording is causing this confusion.  Should number 4 say “more than 18 hours”?

Morrison:  The motion is to change 18 to 21.  If you want to say “more than 18 hours,” you need to vote to defeat the amendment and then suggest another amendment.

A vote was taken, and Schneider’s motion to amend the main motion to say “21 hours or more per semester” carried.

Gordon Mapley:  Does anyone have a copy of the items referred to in number 2?

Castronovo:  I’ll have to investigate.  I’m substituting for Louise Pavia, who couldn’t be here.

Bill Jenkins, parliamentarian:  You can just withdraw number 2.

Castronovo:  I withdraw number 2.

Jan Elias requested a division of the motion so that we could look at each recommendation individually.

Jenkins: The “demand of a single member compels division.” The matter is not debatable.

There was no discussion on number 1. A vote to accept number 1 was taken; number 1 was accepted.

There was no discussion on number 3. A vote to accept number 3 was taken; number 3 was accepted.

There was no discussion on number 4. A vote to accept number 4, as amended by Schneider’s motion to amend, was taken; the amended number 4 was accepted.
 

This paragraph is a correction to the minutes; it was inadvertently omitted in the original minutes:  There was no discussion on number 5.  A vote to accept number 5 was taken; number 5 was accepted.

Discussion on number 7 followed:

Nancy White asked about the current hour requirements for taking courses CR/NC.  Several people noted that the current Undergraduate Bulletin, p. 32, says students must have “at least 16 quarter hours” with a GPA of 2.0 to take courses CR/NC; the maximum number of hours that may be taken CR/NC is currently 20 for a baccalaureate degree and 10 for an associate degree.

Duane Rost:  What is the rationale for the increase on semesters?

Castronovo:  We considered the number allowed at other institutions.

A vote to accept number 7 was taken; number 7 was accepted.

Academic Programs Committee:  Committee chair Kathylynn Feld announced that all but four program areas have been approved for semesters.  A large circulation packet will arrive in deans’ offices Monday or Tuesday, January 24 or 25.  She commended her committee, which has been meeting frequently.

University Curriculum Committee: Kathylynn Feld reported for Patricia Hoyson, chair of the Curriculum Committee, who was teaching.  A list of approved courses from Circulation Packet 2 appears in Appendix B.  The committee will meet again on January 24 to review courses for Accounting and Finance and revisions for the English Department.  The committee is awaiting some other revisions and memos related to objections to courses.

Academic Planning Committee: No report.

General Education Committee: Bill Jenkins, committee chair, noted that courses certified for general education are listed on the general education web site at <http://www.ysu.edu/ger/GERlist. html>.  You can download a complete list there.  Also on the site is a listing of courses, marked in bold type, that are still circulating or that have been objected to.  The committee is winding down in regard to regular general education course proposals.

Jenkins gave the following reminder:  Incoming freshmen are the only ones required to follow the new general education requirements; students presently here will generally take courses according to the current system.  A current student could choose to follow the requirements in the new catalog, but Jenkins doesn’t encourage doing so.

Jenkins noted that the committee hasn’t received many proposals for intensive and capstone courses. The model requires writing-intensive courses to be on the upper-division level.  Departments should follow through.  Try to get intensive or capstone courses to the General Education Committee by the end of winter quarter.

J.-C. Smith:  Must one submit a syllabus for certification of capstone courses?

Jenkins:  Yes.  We check to see if the syllabus reflects the elements required in a capstone course (goals 1, 2, and 3).

Integrated Technologies, University Outreach,Library Committee, Academic Research, Student Academic Affairs, Student Academic Grievance, Honors, and Academic Events Committees: No reports.

Unfinished business: None.

New business: None.

Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 4:50 p.m.