Faculty Senate
Minutes from March 27, 2001

The Senate was called to order at 3:35 in D137 MOLN. Members present were Buenker, Colston, Duetsch, Gregory, Hansen, Hayward, Kavenik (Chair), Keating, Lenard, Li, Mayer, McNair, Monardi, Mullen, Perdikaris, Rosenberg, Ruffolo, Saffioti-Hughes, St. Jean, Schmidt, Sunstrom, Walasek, Wright, and Zaibert. Members Feldt, Gellott, and New were excused. Also present were E. Conrad, A. Crist, R. Lott, M. Power, R. Singer, W. Streeter, X. Wang, and E. Zepp.

The Senate Minutes for February 13, 2001, were approved as distributed.

Report of the Univeristy Committee Chair

In the absence of Professor Gellott, Professor Mayer reported on the meeting of the UW System Faculty Representatives that he recently attended. He said the group had been briefed on Governor McCallum's proposed budget for the UW System. No new positions (and a VERY modest pay plan) have been proposed. Of course, UW supporters (including many
legislators) favor a greater State investment in the UW System as a way of strengthening the State's economy. Professor Mayer's one upbeat budgetary note was that the Governor's proposal would make out-of-state tuition assistance for Illinois residents permanent.

Report of the Chancellor

Chancellor Keating confirmed what Professor Mayer had said, but added that Governor McCallum's budget does treat the UW System more favorably than other State agencies. In the wake of the Governor's proposal, the Board of Regents has reprioritized its budget requests. When the Joint Finance Committee holds a budget hearing at UW-P on April 10, the Chancellor expects to appear and will continue to work with area legislators on budget issues thereafter. He said he will also continue to work with our UW technology consortium to obtain additional State funding.

On other matters, Chancellor Keating said the the University Police budget is still under review (i.e., it has not been cut as rumor would have it). He also said he is very concerned about apparent irregularities in the way recent student government elections were conducted, but has been advised by UW System legal counsel not to intervene.

Chancellor Keating then took up the written questions that were included in the agenda. In regard to Winterim, he said that although the recent session had not been well enrolled, development efforts should certainly continue. Associate Vice Chancellor Singer supported this, citing the success UW-Eau Claire and UW-Milwaukee had this past January offering an
array of courses that clearly met the needs of continuing students. The Chancellor said that faculty members will not be required to teach in the Winterim session.

Professor Rosenberg asked if there was any evidence that the Winterim session generated net gains in enrollment for the campus and was told by the Chancellor that what mattered was convenience to students, not net enrollment gains. Professor Saffioti-Hughes asked whether new course proposals could still be developed for the next Winterim and was told they
could be. Chancellor Keating emphasized that shortening the time to degree was very important for student retention. Professor Mayer said that the Winterim was simply too short for a 3-credit course and Associate Vice Chancellor Singer said this had been a quirk of our academic calendar - the next Winterim would be six days longer. Professor Saffioti-Hughes
asked whether other campuses employed regular faculty in their interim courses and was told that a mixed group of instructors was common.

In response to the written question concerning the allocation of overhead from outside grants, Chancellor Keating described the group of grant recipients as "tight," leaving the impression that a widespread dispersal of the overhead from those new grants would not be appropriate. He said some overhead should be returned to the departments that generate grants
through the deans' offices whenever possible, but the Grants Office must be supported first and overhead must be shared with community co-sponsors as well when they are active participants in the project.

In response to the written question concerning the lease of land to Wisconsin Electric, Chancellor Keating said the amount of money received was $340,000, not $375,000. He said that about $130,000 will remain after authorized expenditures have been made for an electronic message board @ $55K, athletic facilities @ $49K, a campus master plan @ $40K, theatre lighting @ $26K, the development of student web portals @ $20K, and academic program support in Management Information Systems and International Studies @ $18K.

In response to a question about how funds allocated by UW System have been used to support our Plan 2008 goals, Chancellor Keating said the campus received an allocation of about $49,000. All of that funding was turned over to the Parkside Diversity Monitoring and Assessment Committee, which has spent about $57,000 this year in support of our Plan 2008 Goals. Most of their deficit has been covered through carryovers from the previous fiscal year. [A complete accounting is on file with the minutes of this meeting in the office of the Secretary of the Faculty.] The Chancellor reminded Senators that UW-Parkside has won State-wide recognition during the past year for its diversity program.

New Business

Policy Regarding Adding a Course

The Academic Policies Committee recommended the following:

Be it RESOLVED that the policy regarding adding a course is approved as described in Agenda Document 2a, effective with the beginning of the Fall semester.
Professor Zepp introduced the proposal on behalf of the Committee, saying that it had been developed for the Committee by an ad hoc group of interested parties, consisting of the Director of Advising, the Registrar, the Secretary of the Faculty, and the University Committee Chair.

Professor Rosenberg asked whether the proposed policy had been compared to the current policy at nearby colleges and Professor Zepp said that to her knowledge it had not.

Ms. Power, the Director of Advising, and Mr. Lott, the Registrar, confirmed that students who are admitted to the University after the semester has begun often expect to be permitted to enroll in courses that are well underway, even though it is not wise to do so. Professor Lenard said it has been her experience that it is almost impossible to overcome the handicap of a late start.

Professor Rosenberg asked whether this policy would make it impossible to accommodate a student who has legitimate reasons (e.g., a changed work schedule) for wishing to transfer from one section of a course to another. Professor Mullen said it not always workable to allow students to do this. Professors Mayer and Saffioti-Hughes suggested that this can usually be accommodated informally when the instructor deems it appropriate.

Professor Walasek asked whether this policy would apply to independent study courses. After some discussion, there seemed to be general agreement that the wording of the policy would permit the Registrar to establish later deadlines for courses such as independent study because they meet on a "TBA" basis and may be less than a semester in length.

MOTION APPROVED on a voice vote.

Policy Regarding Dropping a Course

The Academic Policies Committee recommended the following:

Be it RESOLVED that the policy regarding dropping a course is approved as described in Agenda Document 2b, effective with the beginning of the Fall semester.

Professor Zepp introduced the proposal, saying that the ad hoc group of interested parties (identified above) had also developed this policy. Ms. Power, the Director of Advising, and Mr. Lott, the Registrar, confirmed that under the current policy students occasionally drop a course 2-3 years after the semester is over.

Dr. Conrad (Academic Actions Officer) expressed two concerns about the proposal: first, that the volume of late drops is too great for the Academic Actions Committee to handle; and second, that students often don't have the feedback they need to make a drop decision before the deadline has passed.

Professor Gregory said students are often unwilling to disclose legitimate (but personal) non-academic reasons for poor academic performance. Professor Mayer observed that the Academic Actions Committee may need to delegate its authority in these matters to someone who has appropriate training; nothing in the proposal would prevent the Academic Actions
Committee from developing a detailed policy that could then be administered by a suitably trained individual.

Professor Rosenberg suggested that we should retain a drop policy that is not unduly restrictive. Professor Mullen said the instructor should be asked for input before the student is allowed to drop, but Professor Saffioti-Hughes pointed out the student can withdraw from the University without input from the instructor. Professor Zepp said the wording of the proposal encourages the student and the instructor to consider a course of action other than dropping the course.

Dr. Conrad and Professor Mayer called for requiring the student to provide documentation of the non-academic basis for the drop request. Professor Duetsch said the proposal allows the Academic Actions Committee to devise appropriate guidelines for the justification of drop requests. Ms. Power said that the Advising Center could be expected to advise students about
the need for suitable documentation .

Professor Gregory MOVED TO AMEND the proposal by deleting the sentence that begins "Before requesting permission to drop...." MOTION TO AMEND FAILED for lack of a second. Professor Rosenberg MOVED TO AMEND the
proposal by changing the word "should" to "must" in that same sentence. MOTION TO AMEND again FAILED for lack of a second.

MOTION APPROVED on a voice vote.

Policy Regarding Withdrawal from the Univeristy

The Academic Policies Committee recommended the following:

Be it RESOLVED that the policy regarding withdrawal from the University is approved as described in Agenda Document 2c, effective with the beginning of the Fall semester.

Professor Zepp introduced the proposal, saying the ad hoc group of interested parties identified above had also developed this proposal. Mr. Lott, the Registrar, confirmed that late withdrawals are often approved long after the semester is over.

Dr. Conrad said that people who are going through a life crisis cannot be expected to meet University deadlines for withdrawal; occasionally there are legitimate reasons for requests to withdraw at a later date when the crisis has passed. He strongly recommended reliance on a policy that allows reasonable flexibility. Professor Zepp asked whether our academic
forgiveness policy would be sufficient and was told it would not be. Professor Mayer pointed out that the Academic Actions Committee already has the power to approve a wide variety of special requests that can be justified under extraordinary circumstances.

Professor Rosenberg MOVED TO AMEND the proposal by deleting the words "no later than the last day of instruction" from the sentence that begins "Any such request must be submitted to the Advising Center...." SECONDED by Professor Hayward. Dr. Conrad supported the amendment, as did Professor Saffioti-Hughes. Professor Mayer again drew attention to the broad powers already held by the Academic Actions Committee. Professor Duetsch expressed the view that it is the student's responsibility to account for her/his academic record, and the institution should not delete portions of that record.

MOTION TO AMEND APPROVED on a voice vote.

MOTION APPROVED, as amended, on a voice vote

With the time of adjournment at hand, Professor Kavenik recognized Professor Mayer who MOVED TO TABLE the proposed policy regarding credit for experience-based learning until the next meeting of the Senate. SECONDED by Professor Buenker.

MOTION TO TABLE approved on a voice vote.

The meeting adjourned at 4:55.