Undergraduate Academic Council
Meeting Date:
Wednesday, September 27, 2006, 3:00 PM.
Present:
Jeanette Altarriba; Scott Barclay; Maria Brown; Richard Collier; Chris Faugere; Susanna
Fessler; Carolyn Malloch; John Monfasani; Dan Smith; Dan Truchan, Rui Zhao; Guest: Robert
Gibson
Minutes:
Minutes from the September 20, 2006 meeting were reviewed and corrections acknowledged.
Those minutes, with required updates, were approved
Chair’s Announcements:
The Chairs for subcommittees are the following: Lisa Trubitt, Committee on Interdisciplinary
Studies; Susanna Fessler, Committee on Curriculum and Honors; Karin Reinhold-Larsson,
Committee on Academic Standing; Philippe Abraham, Committee on Admissions and
Academic Standing; Anne Hildreth, Committee on General Education.
The Chair will be unavailable to attend meetings for the next two weeks. The Council meeting
for October 4th is canceled due to the faculty meeting next Wednesday. Carolyn MacDonald has
agreed to chair the meeting on October 11th.
Continued Discussion to Revise Both Not Reported (NR) and Incomplete (I) Grades:
Registrar Bob Gibson attended the meeting. He mentioned that for a course such as a lab science
that if offered only once a year, the instructor can have an Incomplete extended to the end of the
semester in order to submit the grade. Bob mentioned Maria’s inquiry on additional
letters/grades being created and informed the Council that he strongly recommends no new
letters/grades be added to the system. As mentioned last week, when a student finishes 80% of
the class work, a zero might be assigned to the remaining 20% that was not completed, a
calculation made, and the grade submitted. The Registrar’s office will be mailing the upcoming
report for not reported and incomplete grades October 3rd. A memo explaining the policy is
always attached to the report.
A faculty member informed the Council that within her department, the Secretary informs
instructors of needed grades, but the actual paperwork is not forwarded to the instructors. The
Council was reminded that instructors are responsible for signatures and not the departmental
Secretary. If pages from the report are misplaced, Maria volunteered to mail replacement pages.
Due to the fact that unpaid seats result in lost tuition money, students should be prevented from
attending or registering for any class with a non-reported or incomplete grade. Maria mentioned
that a student is required to resolve an “I” grade before being allowed to graduate. If the course
has turned to an “E”, that like other grade changes must be approved by the Vice Provost for
Undergraduate Education. It was pointed out that some students attempt to withdraw from a class
to receive a “W” rather than complete a class. The Registrar mentioned a recent problem with an
incomplete grade, namely: a student left 2-1/2 years ago with an incomplete grade, and the
instructor was no longer with the University. The chair of the department had no other choice
than to create work for the student in order to assign a grade. A discussion ensued of a faculty
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member’s problem of a student not returning academic property and where the student has an
incomplete grade. Right now the existence of the “I” preventing the student from graduating is
the only leverage the faculty member has. It was pointed out that the faculty member could place
a hold on the student’s account which could be removed after the property is returned.
The Council voted to approve the Incomplete (I) portion of the proposal. Passage consisted of 11
yea votes with no abstention.
Turning to the non-reported grade proposal, Maria provided a handout showing the form that
faculty receive along with a breakdown of recent requests to resolve blank grade. She pointed out
that some graduate students are included in the stats. Instructor feedback is worse with the grad
students. The form provides all pertinent information where the instructor merely needs to check
off a box and provide a signature. #3 on the check-off section covers both a “Z” grade as well as
a “did not attend” status. Bob mentioned that perhaps the path to follow is to notify the
chair/dean only after the instructor has not replied to their request on the second notice of a
required grade. Bob Gibson mentioned that the Registrar’s Office has authority to designate a
“Z” which is an “indicator” not a “grade.” A member pointed out that assigning a “Z” grade
requires adding a note in the system.
Regarding the policy to de-register a student after non-attendance within the first ten days of
class, a member pointed out that holidays and other issues affect students’ attendance for the first
ten days. Perhaps that ten day policy could be changed for additional days? There is a concern
where faculty are being pressured to bestow a grade, and the faculty member has a diminished
memory of the no-show student. The student should receive an “E” but is given a grade. This
results in a reward for the student being a no-show. Responsibility being placed on the chair was
considered to be a good suggestion. Perhaps the chair should be notified as soon as possible.
There are times when a non-reported grade occurs due to a student’s plagiarism. Conceivably the
involved faculty may be under the misapprehension that a grade need not be assigned until
Judicial Affairs determines a final decision. The Registrar did point out that the chair is informed
when a faculty member is chronically late. The suggestion was made to contact Human
Resources for non-response faculty since an instructor is contractually obligated for a grade. The
Registrar pointed out his office does not have this authority. The Registrar will remove the NR
references and re-word the proposal. He requested the Council pass the proposal where a Chair is
notified of NR grades. Bob pointed out that this does not reflect a policy change and the desire
only is to have chairs involved.
Foreign Language Requirements/Gen Ed Committee’s Discussions:
At the end of last year, UAC discussed a possible change in language requirement. There is a
demand for gen ed seats as well as pressure for students to complete language requirements.
Since substitution of other type courses is not allowed, language requirement is a difficult
problem. SUNY-wide one language semester is required, but the University requires the second
semester of an introductory language (or higher). A proposed answer would entail substituting
one semester of a foreign language the student did not study in high school plus a related
“culture” courses. The Gen Ed Committee worked on matching cultural classes with similar
language courses. It was noted that a student would not become proficient in a language within
two semesters, either. An example was given where a student takes language in high school and
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receives an 80 on the Regents. The student could choose another language along with a matching
culture class. The student would have a choice of taking a language course the first semester and
taking either a culture or another course in the language.
The primary language problem is that the majority of students desire Spanish, and there are not
enough Spanish classes to fulfill the demand, since that is what most of them studied in high
school. A smaller concern exists for French and Italian. A member mentioned that right now the
current situation encourages many students to complete a language requirement during the
summer at another institution. Another member noted that in some of the non-Romance language
programs the problem is reversed—they have space for students in the language courses but
culture courses in English meeting Regions Beyond Europe or the Global requirement, for
example, are already at or near capacity.
Anne Hildreth pointed out that the Council might discuss a “refresher” language course since
students’ Regents are taken way back in the 10th grade. If the language department can be
convinced to do so, a two week remedial class should be sufficient for students. It was suggested
that the entire general education problem probably should be confronted as a whole issue and not
resolved piece meal. Anne will provide the Council with copies of the Gen Ed Committee’s list
of language matched with culture courses. Discussions will resume at a future meeting.
Other Business:
The rationale was distributed for the proposal from the School of Business to revise its admission
standards (handed out at the previous meeting.) It was agreed that the Committee on Admissions
and Academic Standing will consider this proposal and make its recommendations to UAC at a
subsequent meeting.
Of other present or imminent agenda items for Council committees, the Committee on Academic
Standing will also need to review a forthcoming proposal from Criminal Justice revising its
admissions standards to the major. Curriculum and Honors, in addition to the anticipated
proposal for the LGBT minor, will be receiving a proposal from the Theatre department with
substantial revisions of its courses and major requirements.
Next Meeting:
The next Undergraduate Academic Council meeting will be held Wednesday, 10/11/06,
1:45-3:00 PM, LC-31.
Minutes Taken:
Notes taken by Joanne Baronner, Undergraduate Studies.