Minutes of the Academic Policies Committee
for October 8, 1999

The October 8th meeting of the Academic Policies Committee was called to order at 2:05 P.M. by E. Zepp, Chair. Also present were members S. Christoph, M. Gurtman, D. Kaufman, R. Lott, J. Ostheimer, and M. Powers.

1) The minutes of the meeting of Sept. 22, 1999 were approved as distributed by e-mail.

2) Executive Actions:

Document A.A.H. 4.7, previously distributed, and document A.A.H. 4.9, distributed today, were examined. Both documents date from 1989 and neither reflects current policies and procedures.

The Vice-Chancellor/Provost will examine the charges to the Academic Actions officer and to the Academic Actions committee and bring back a preliminary designation of the responsibilities which should be delineated.

The issue of removal of records from students' transcripts will be addressed separately: under what conditions should such an action take place?
3) Sixty-credit limitation of completion of certain General Education requirements:

Current wording reflects a "must do" vs. a "should do" approach. Stringent enforcement of prior policies, i.e., Collegiate Skills, however, produced a number of negative results, including poor image for the university, when students who were doing well were dropped because of C.S.

Making the case for why we have these requirements why students should meet them as designed, in the first two years of study, would be a more positive and effective approach. Departments might also wish to review their requirements for entrance to the major and whether the completion of certain General Education requirements might be appropriate entrance requirements.

The committee's consensus was that the current situation is satisfactory, but that increased effort in advising and examination of curricular requirements (in departments) would be in order.

4) The next meeting was set for Friday, Nov. 5th, 2:00 P.M., CA 233.

Agenda:
1) Review of information sent on Executive Actions.
2) Consideration of Associate Degree (entitlement to plan expires at the end of this year). The Vice Chancellor will prepare a document. Members might consider how this kind of degree could be used as a completion goal for General Education.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:15 P.M.