Academic Senate Youngstown State University Youngstown, Ohio  44555

Note 1: Please submit agenda items and cover sheets for the December 5, 2001, Senate meeting to Bege Bowers, A&S Dean's Office, by 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 21. Provide both a hard copy and a disk or electronic copy of your report and cover sheet in Word or rich text format. A downloadable cover sheet is available at the Academic Senate web site:

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Major topics presented/discussed: Progress report for the Ad Hoc Committee on Ethics; charge of the Ad Hoc Global Awareness Committee; policy for canceling the schedule of students on academic hold; procedures for changing placement testing; proposal to certify the Managing Diversity course (MGT 3755) in the Societies and Institutions domain; Strategic Planning Committee update and request for input.

Call to Order:

Jim Morrison, chair of the Academic Senate, called the meeting to order at 4:04 p.m.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting:

Minutes of the 12 September 2001 meeting were approved as posted.

To view the September minutes, click here; click your “Back” button as necessary to return to the November minutes.

Senate Executive Committee (SEC) / Report from the Chair: Jim Morrison reported that the SEC has met twice since the last meeting. He made the following announcements:

• Jim Morrison has been reelected as chair of the Senate. 

• Morrison has informed the Senate Executive Committee that he does not plan to run for Senate chair again. Thus, he feels, now is a good time for the Senate Executive Committee and others to review the election process.

• The three ad hoc committees (Classrooms, Global Awareness, and Ethics) have been meeting. Morrison recognized Tom Shipka, Philosophy and Religious Studies, to make a statement:

Shipka, reporting for the Ad Hoc Ethics Committee, noted that the committee has had an organizational meeting and a second meeting; a third meeting is scheduled for next week. In addition to gathering ethics policy and procedure statements from all but three of the public universities in Ohio, the committee has drafted a proposed revision of YSU ethics policy and procedures and will discuss it next week. The committee has established a WebCT site accessible to faculty, staff, students, and administrators and invites your participation through that means or any other means.

[Ad Hoc Ethics Committee chair J-C. Smith notes that the committee's web site can be accessed by self-registering for WebCT, at http://webcourses.ysu.edu (click on the large WebCT and then on "Create myWebCT" to begin the registration process). Then, add the "course" Academic Ethics Committee, the first course listed among those that can be added by anyone with a WebCT ID.  The advantages of the WebCT "course" site include multiple discussion groups and chat rooms.  Significant materials are already available on the site.]

Ohio Faculty Council (OFC): No new report. The OFC meets later in November.

Charter and Bylaws Committee: Nancy White, chair of the committee, reported that the Charter and Bylaws Committee met on October 18. The Ad Hoc Global Awareness Committee appointed last year has recommended the formation of a permanent Global Awareness Committee and has submitted a draft of a charge for the permanent committee. The Charter and Bylaws Committee reviewed the draft and determined that the majority of the activities charged as responsibilities for the new committee are already the responsibility or prerogative of other bodies or units. Therefore, the Charter and Bylaws Committee referred the matter back to the ad hoc committee.

Morrison noted that discussions are underway with the Provost's Office to sort out differences between promotion of global awareness and any task force that might be used as an advisory or oversight committee. 

Elections and Balloting Committee: Louise Aurilio, chair of the committee, was unable to attend the Senate meeting but sent this report: The first meeting of the committee was October 10. She has been reelected chair of the committee. All colleges have reported that elections for 2001-2002 are completed. However, the Senate position for the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems remains vacant due to lack of interest in the position.

Academic Standards Committee: Martha Pallante, chair of the committee, has been reelected chair. She reported on the following items:

• At the March 2001 Senate meeting, the Senate approved a motion asking the Charter and Bylaws Committee to draft language to include a representative of the colleges’ professional advising staff on the Academic Standards Committee (ASC). The Charter and Bylaws Committee did not follow through last year, so the ASC has asked it to do so this year.
  

• The policy of canceling the schedule of students on academic hold unless they meet with an advisor originated with the ASC several years ago. The committee learned that the policy was discontinued following discussion at the Council of Deans. The ASC feels the policy served a useful purpose. Such students need to see an advisor. During discussion at the October 26 meeting, a number of ideas surfaced, including the following:
  

  • Since the policy originated within the ASC, its revision belongs with the ASC; the ASC should not be overruled by another body.

  • The deans did not oppose the policy but felt its application was uneven across campus.

  • The automation of the cancellation was apparently part of the problem.

  • Most departments attempted to handle the drops; problems arose because of the number of undetermined majors.

  • The policy of required advisement is good; enforcement is the problem.

  • A suggestion was made to add mid-term reports for affected students.

The committee agreed that the policy needs to be reviewed and welcomes your input. George McCloud will report the committee's position to the Council of Deans and bring procedural suggestions back to the ASC.

• The ASC has questioned the decision to "outsource" placement testing of incoming students. Since initial approval for enacting the placement tests came from the ASC, proposed changes should also come before the committee. The committee feels the relevant departments (English, Math, Foreign Languages) should remain in control of the kind of testing.

Academic Programs Committee: No report.

University Curriculum Committee: No report.

Academic Planning Committee: No report.

General Education Committee (GEC):  Bill Jenkins, chair of the committee, reported on three items: 

• The North Central Association (NCA) required YSU to file a report three years after the 1998 visit. YSU had not yet passed or implemented the new General Education model at the time of the visit, and NCA wanted to see that we followed through. We sent the report this summer and have received notice that North Central has no concerns. No further reports or visits are required until 2008. Jenkins thanked all for their work on General Education.
  

• Provost Atwater and the deans have set the end of the semester as the target deadline for submitting courses for certification as "intensive" courses.
  

• Jenkins noted that the GEC looks at the relevant general education goals and criteria and at the course syllabus in determining whether a course should be certified in a particular domain. He summarized the procedure for bringing to the Senate floor general education proposals for which objections are not resolved. As noted in the GEC's attachment to the agenda for the November 7 Senate meeting, the GEC had voted 7 to 5 to certify the Managing Diversity course (MGT 3755) in the Societies and Institutions domain. Objections were filed and not withdrawn; the proponents and objectors met with the GEC; the GEC did not reach a unanimous vote. 

Jenkins noted that he would present the motion to certify the course and would refrain from acting in his advisory role as parliamentarian of the Senate. Ram Kasuganti would speak on behalf of the GEC majority that voted to certify the course; Jenkins would speak on behalf of the GEC minority that voted not to certify the course.

Jenkins moved that the Academic Senate certify MGT 3755 as a Societies and Institutions course in general education. The motion was seconded, and discussion followed: 

[Given the length of the discussion, only a summary appears below. Tapes of the Senate meeting are available if you want to listen to the full discussion. General education goals 10, 11, and 12 appear on the General Education web site at the following link: <http://www.ysu.edu/ger/genedg.html>. The MGT 3755 proposal and objection appear at the following link: <http://www.ysu.edu/acad-senate/MGT3755_proposal_objection.pdf>. ]

Ram Kasuganti, Michelle Hettinga, Tess Tessier, and Anne McMahon spoke in favor of the motion. Among the arguments offered were the following:

• The course deals with theories and events related to the institutionalization of the concept of diversity and their impact on society. 
  

• There has been emphasis on the words "Managing" and "Diversity" in the course title. The word "managing" needs to be considered broadly. The concept of diversity is broad, and implications for organizational change, culture, and structure are pertinent to societies and institutions. 
  

• Any discussion of theories and events related to societies and institutions cannot take place in a vacuum. Culture, history, and communication are all involved.
  

• In "real life," diversity and the goals in the Societies and Institutions domain are closely intertwined. Their separation in the General Education model is artificial.
  

• Student senator Hettinga, who is not a business major, has taken the course and feels it fully meets goals 10, 11, and 12. The course focuses on society and institutions; it’s not solely a business course.
  

• There is no rule prohibiting a 3700-level course from being approved for general education. Some 3700-level courses have been approved. They must have a prerequisite within general education.
  

• The syllabus and roster support the contention that the course has breadth; it is not designed specifically or only for business majors.
  

• Many on the GEC feel the course is designed for a general audience and that it does meet Goal 11. The fact that the course meets Goal 12 very strongly does not mean that it can't also meet Goal 11.
  

• Although the GEC asks "experts" to comment on courses proposed as "intensive" courses, the committee has not done that with proposals for the domains. The domains don't "belong" to any college or department.
  

• The debate emerges from tension between those who define Goal 11 more narrowly and those who define it more broadly. 
  

• McMahon, the instructor, noted that she served on the GEC for at least four years, was involved in developing the norms that other speakers are appealing to today, and used those norms in developing the course. She designed the course not for business students but for wider audiences. This is not the traditional managing-diversity course that focuses on the firm level and is designed for business students. One of the textbooks is a reader with many articles from many disciplines. The course focuses on U.S. diversity and how U.S. business, in interaction with other culture-producing institutions, defines and redefines issues that we call diversity. The primary theoretical perspective, and therefore the primary goal being addressed, is institutional processes as social constructors of reality. How management processes interact with all of these other institutional actors is the focus of the course. "Managing" does not refer to managing a firm. As the description, journal articles, and goals on the syllabus show, the course meets the requirements for the Societies and Institutions domain. You'll have trouble finding courses in the domain that are much broader than MGT 3755. The course encourages critical thinking and examination of issues.

[David Porter asked for clarification on the issue of prerequisites, the relationship between general education and minors, and whether a student could take the course and then take lower-division courses in the domain. Tom Shipka asked for clarification on whether upper-division courses can be certified in the domains and on why the Biomedical Ethics course was rejected as a general education course.]

Jenkins, Tom Maraffa, Martha Pallante, Charles Singler, Keith Lepak, and Teri Riley spoke against the motion, noting the following:

• Everyone recognizes the need to study diversity and has a great deal of respect for Anne McMahon, the instructor, and her work on diversity. No one questions her credentials or the value of the course. Those opposed to the motion are concerned only with whether or where the course should fit in the General Education model. It does not belong in the Societies and Institutions domain, though it might be suitable for Personal and Social Responsibility or Selected Topics and Electives.
  

• Managing diversity is important; however, MGT 3755 is more of a "professional" course than a general education course. The course is oriented to people who are going into business and seems very appropriate for them. However, the NCA does not intend for professionally oriented courses to be part of general education. 

Jenkins showed an overhead of a passage taken from the North Central Association Handbook of Accreditation, 2nd ed., ch. 3, p. 23:

“Throughout its history, the Commission has held to the tenet that higher education involves breadth as well as depth of study. General Education refers to that component of a student’s study that ensures breadth.  In 1983 the Commission approved this Statement on General Education, which still applies:

General education is ‘general’ in several clearly identifiable ways:  it is not directly related to a student’s formal technical, vocational, or professional preparation;  it is a part of every student’s course of study, regardless of his or her area of emphasis, and it is intended to impart common knowledge, intellectual concepts, and attitudes that every educated person should possess.”

• More than 80% of the students enrolled in the course this semester are from the College of Business.
  

• Each of the general education domains has a central goal, and a course must meet the central goal to be certified in a particular domain. The Societies and Institutions domain involves goals 10, 11, and 12. Goal 11 is the central goal for that domain. Goal 10 revolves around world cultures and diversity. Goal 12 revolves around American diversity. The course meets Goal 12 but not Goal 11.
  

• An upper-division course must have a lower-level prerequisite in general education to qualify for a general education domain. If the motion carries, departments will bring other upper-division courses to the GEC for certification.
  

• The matter is an issue of integrity. The General Education model will not have integrity if the individual domains don’t have integrity. Experts in Societies and Institutions felt the course did not fit the goals of that area. The GEC has approved courses that are not in traditional social studies departments. Those courses met the goals of the domain. This course does not.
  

• Approving such a course as part of general education and having a prerequisite of junior status will set off red flags with accrediting bodies such as NCATE. NCATE had disapproved of YSU's former "menu" of area requirements, which included many upper-division courses.
  

• Courses dealing with class and race are also good courses, but they haven't been approved in this domain. They aren't considered broad enough. MGT 3755 is not broad enough either.
  

• The theoretical component of the course is a reflection of the more recent "cottage industry" of diversity theoretical writings. Students aren't being involved in a critical examination of the theories. There isn't a broad "comparative" framework for the course or emphasis on how and why society has developed as it has. 
  

• The titles of the textbooks on the syllabus suggest that the course is too narrow for the Societies and Institutions domain. 

(Tom Shipka moved the previous question. His motion was seconded and carried, ending debate.)

A voice vote and then a hand vote were taken, and the motion to certify MGT 3755 in the Societies and Institutions domain was defeated by a vote of 26 (opposed) to 19 (for).

Note: A list of recently approved general education courses that have cleared the objection stage appeared as Attachment 1 to the agenda for the November 7 Senate meeting. A list of all certified general education courses appears on the General Education web site at http://www.ysu.edu/ger/.

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

Unfinished business:  None.

New business:  None.

Strategic Planning Committee Update:  Bege Bowers, chair of the Strategic Planning Committee, summarized the Strategic Planning report that appeared in Attachment 2 to agenda for the November 7 Senate meeting. Since it was already past 5:00, there was time for only a brief overview of the committee's progress: 

Chordas: The form offers an opportunity for you to provide input on programs of distinction and areas of distinction. You aren’t limited to the slots on the list. On the bottom half of the form are slots for other activities and areas of distinction (for example, activities such as the English Festival). If you need more space, write on the back of the form. Send the forms by campus mail to Suzanne Fleming in the Center for Human Services Development or to Bege Bowers in the Dean's Office in the College of Arts and Sciences. The purpose of this exercise is to gather input. The committee is not in the decision-making stages yet. We have identified possible criteria under Programs of Distinction; identify other criteria if you would like. Feel free to share the forms with others.

Bowers: We will also place a feedback form on the Strategic Planning web site, or you can e-mail comments to me at bkbowers@www.ysu.edu.

Adjournment:  The meeting adjourned at 5:14 p.m.