Council of Academic Advisors
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
10:30 AM, Union Board Room
Present: Jane Coplan (UAASC), Sue Dagit (Registrar’s Office), Jennifer Grimm (Communications), Ember Keithley (CBT), Ehren Kuzekov (Study Abroad), Kathy Meyers (SAPSC and VRC), Caryn Morgan (CAS), Kelly Morris (UAASC), Julie O’Brien (UAASC), Chris Ramsey (CBT), Jennifer Sandrik‐Rubio (Physical Sciences), Megan Shafer (UAASC), Renee Simpson (UAASC), Theo Schultz (Pre‐Nursing), Michelle Terry (CBT Rep), Jennifer Tibbitts (BA/BGS), Ryan Trumpn (UAASC), Dana Vizdal (CBS Admin Inter/Study Abroad), Tammy Wilson (COEHS), Michelle Yager (UAASC) Guests: Tim Sheridan and Jessica Mueller I. STUDENT JUDICIAL PROGRAM PRESENTATION – Tim Sheridan, Director of Judicial Services An Overview of WIU’s Student Judicial System was distributed. If a student is dismissed from WIU, that student would be criminally trespassed from the campus. For repeat substance abusers, a typical sanction would be such type of disciplinary action, such as a strong warning, a fine, and/or a requirement of completing an assessment through AOD. For second offenses, sanctions would be imposed. Academic performance is taken into account. If dismissed from the university, a student needs to be out of this environment and a criminal trespass order would be imposed, but sometimes it is hard to get the notice to the student. There is a need to know that the student receives the notice, that the notice is in the student’s hand, and that if they go against the notice they would be arrested. Sometimes students will be allowed to return to campus under certain conditions, the CT is rescinded, and other sanctions are made that are more appropriate. The MVS codes (Y = judicial hold; CT = criminal trespass) may not be available to advisors, so advisors don’t know these circumstances exist when students call to set appointments and that is a concern. These codes can’t be added to existing screens, and advisors don’t necessarily want another screen to look at. It is hoped that between Judicial Programs, Billing and Receivables, and the Registrar’s Office that a solution to this problem can be found. 1) Some students have to complete an Alcohol Substance Abuse Assessment before they are able to return to campus, but some students, if it is reasonable, are allowed to return to campus for advising meetings. There is a flaw in the system, however, because the advisor seen on the advising screen may not be the person with whom the student has an appointment. It was agreed that if Student Judicial Programs gets that type of request in the future, they will ask the student with whom they are meeting and the notify the advisor. 2) There really is no difference between WIU and off campus police as far as judicial practices. 3) In the past, WIU was not concerned about off‐campus events, except when it was a university‐sanctioned event. When fraternities required stealing to be a part of its initiation, since it is a university‐sanctioned organization, WIU started tasking a role. In the 1980s, there was growing concern with date rape (now referred to as sexual assault/sexual conduct). Even if the incident did not necessarily occur on campus, the nexus was that the 2 students met as students. Eventually The Sexual Assault Bill of Rights Law passed in 1992 and WIU became involved with that, as well as with drug dealing. Then the police chief voiced concern about loud parties and unregulated events with the potential of danger and asked for WIUs help since students were coming back to with alcohol‐related problems. As they saw repetitive issues with alcohol, the city said they were having problems with fights off campus. The city was asked to send records to WIU, and a lot of the students listed on the records were also having judicial problems here on campus. Whether it is an underage drinking ticket or a loud party disturbing neighbors, records are obtained and the University proceeds with on‐campus disciplinary action. Expectations are the same, regardless of whether students are on‐ or off‐campus. If a student is off‐campus and gets an underage drinking ticket, judicial gets the information, always follows up with the student, and the student gets a judicial sanction from WIU Some students who receive tickets for underage consumption say that it doesn’t go on their records, it is more like a parking ticket. Likewise, tickets for marijuana aren’t always state charges. Many communities are looking at writing ordinance regulations for small amounts of marijuana and paraphernalia. Taking these students to court ties up court time and judges don’t like it …. Their belief is if it involves a student the campus process can handle it separately. Students may fight state charges but not municipality charges since it will not be entered into the criminal record and doesn’t have the impact that the state does. Tim will check on why CT codes can oftentimes be seen on the ADVG screen by some but not by others and if there are there different levels Judicial puts holds on through the Judicial Office, but occasionally students are trespassed from specific locations in the university and Judicial would not put up a CT notice in that instance. Housing maintains screens and may prohibit an abuser from visitation to the recipients housing, which would be specific to Housing and would not be put on through Judicial Programs. This would allow a student to be a university student but barred from a specific location. It would be good to know that side, too, because sometimes classes are held in specific buildings where they may have been banned. Please let Michelle know about any new information and she will pass it on II. Approval of Minutes (April 18, 2012) – Michael Yager The minutes were approved as presented. III. SOAR – Michelle Yager Follow‐up meeting COAA, July 19th, 9:00 AM in the Sandburg Theatre (advising meeting) This is a small group meeting prior to the SOAR Committee meeting (open to everyone) to hear that can be taken at the SOAR Committee Meeting. This is not to preclude anyone from attending, just to make sure there is area representation. Please go back to your areas, find out who want to be a rep, mark out that time on your calendars, and send the rep names to Michelle. SOAR Committee, July 19th, 10:30 in the Sandburg Theatre (all campus) This meeting is open to everyone, but College representatives should attend both meetings Individual Advisor Schedules Michelle is unable to track the number of students each advisor has for each SOAR date. If numbers start getting close to the maximum number, since departments are capped, hopefully advisors within departments can determine how to help each other. Numbers can’t always be predicted since students can change majors after arriving at SOAR, so just be aware that others within your area may need to help and be helped. Advisors have not received agendas for SOAR Day 1 and 2. Michelle will send these out, although there is not much change from last year. She will also check with SDO to see if the agenda has been finalized IV. Vote By‐Law Amendments – Michelle Yager Michelle sent an e‐mail attaching the By‐Law Amendments with proposed changes highlighted in yellow. The By‐Law Committee is looking at amending it even more, but what is being voted on today is Article VI, Leadership and Organization of Meetings, Section 1, The Vice Chair will oversee all standing and ad hoc committees with said committees reporting back to Vice Chair, and Article VII, Standing Committee, A. Standing Committees can be chaired and consist of advisors from the campus community. Concern about the meaning of the word “oversee” was discussed, with some feeling that it may be too vague. It was suggested that ‘responsible to’ might be an alternative to ‘oversee’, meaning that the vice‐chair is responsible to committees, as well as for them. Others felt that ‘oversee’ defines the relationship more clearly. Whoever that supervisor might be should work that out since it is too hard for COAA to be the governing body. The Vice Chair is not necessarily going to each committee meeting but committees are reporting back to that person. In other organizations, the vice‐chair is the person in charge of all committees. This expectation should be worked out between the person holding the position and their supervisor and should not be a committee decision. The vice chair is in charge of all committees and is responsible for making sure they have what they need and seeing that they are doing what they need to do. It is up to that vice chair’s supervisor to determine what the role and function of the position should be. It was suggested that maybe there should be a sign‐off sheet to make sure that there is a conversation with the supervisor once they the person is voted in and before they actually assume their duties. With each committee, there are going to be times when they need the vice chair to attend that meeting when something is going on. It doesn’t function well for the committees if they feel this is not a possibility. This year everything is new. It Different colleges would make it look differently so the Council doesn’t want to make a blanket statement. After being through it a year, Ember wanted to be on each committee to be a part of all committees to see what areas are doing. There may be areas that are more important to be on than others in the future. There is nothing in the by‐laws about how long committee membership should last or when they should be formed for next year. This needs to be discussed. This will be tabled and in another month the whole by‐laws document will be brought back as a and voted on as a whole document. People need to know what committees they will be on for next year. Michelle made a motion, seconded by Jane, that the first proposal about the vice‐chair be tabled. Motion carried. Michelle made a motion, seconded by Stacey Dorsett, that we accept the proposed change on the standing committee chair as stated. Motion passed. V. Transfer Student Matric Date – Michelle Terry If a student comes to WIU and takes a summer course or if a student transfers here and they have a degree, they get to go under the previous fall fee structure. If a transfer student takes a summer course, they actually get to go back 2 years previous (1 year previous to your matric date, and if summer matric you get to go back 1 year, so in essence 2 years). If advisors had known that they would have advised students differently. No one was sure why WIU is doing this since they lose money and it is not being used as a recruiting tool. This is done on purpose and is not a glitch in the system, so why not advertise it and use it as a recruiting tool to get more students? This is not being recruited or marketed, but it being spread through students. It has been promoted it every Discover Western, however. VI. Summer COAA Schedule – Michelle Yager There will be 2 separate COAA meetings in July. There will not be a meeting on May 16th, even though it is listed as an alternate date. There will be a meeting on May 23rd, 10:30‐12:00, in the Board room. The June and July meeting dates need to be scheduled 30 days apart in order to vote on by‐laws. VII. Standing Committee Reports – Ember Keithley Professional Development: Thursday, May 3rd “An institutional approach to retention of African American Students” Webinar and panel discussion to follow, 2:00 PM‐3:30 PM Multicultural Center. Monday, May 14 “Field Trip” to Horn Lodge. Program starts at 1:00 PM with optional lunch from noon‐1:00. Please contact Stacy Dorethy in KH‐CBT advising to RSVP. Awards and Recognition (no new report) Public Relations & Social (no new report) Campus Affairs Committee on Early Warning Grades has sent their recommendations to Faculty Senate. No support for midterm grade system (actual grades instead of * for C or above) but the other recommendations were positively received. Assessment: Revising Advisor survey to make it more qualitative. Going to Tere North today, we should see it in the next 7‐10 days. The Assessment committee will review student advisee survey results over summer and also work on CACS report. VIII. CAGAS News – report submitted by Julie O’Brien Summer Meeting dates: Tuesday, May 29, 2012: Documentation deadline = 4:00 p.m., Thursday, May 24 Tuesday, June 19, 2012: Documentation deadline = 4:00 p.m., Thursday, June 14 Thursday, July 12, 2012: Documentation deadline = 4:00 p.m., Monday, July 16 Tuesday, August 14, 2012: Documentation deadline = 4:00 p.m., Thursday, August 9 Also, please remind advisors that CAGAS will not consider special appeals to be readmitted for Fall 2012 (following Spring 2012 suspension or dismissal) until the August 14 meeting, and that is only IF the student has documented, extenuating circumstances that prevented him/her from achieving the required GPA threshold. Generally, it is extremely rare for CAGAS to approve special appeals for readmission. IX. News from the Office of the Registrar – Sue Dagit 1. Important Dates: a. 4/30/2012 (Monday) – GRRP screen opened for final grading b. 5/15/2012 (Tuesday) – GRRP screen closed at noon; grades will post overnight c. 5/16/2012 (Wednesday) – Grades available; Academic Status letters printed and mailed. d. 5/24/2012 – (Thursday) – Last day to drop pre‐session courses or withdraw from pre‐
session e. 5/25/2012 (Friday) – Deadline for clearing deficiencies for the May 12 graduation date f. 5/30/2012 (Wednesday) – Degrees will be posted overnight 2. New staff member – Bethany English is the new Linda Prosise (i.e., Admissions/Records Representative in the Graduation Department). X. College/Area News – Council members Caryn Morgan: The new Foreign Language chair is Dr. Gary Schmidt. They are planning on gathering data about placement tests for SOAR 2012 to determine placement for FLGI. More updates will be given at the next Council meeting on May 23. Dr. Eric Brooks has been named chair of the chair of African‐American Studies. Jennifer Grimm: The job description for the Intercollegiate Athletics – Academic Advisor position is posted online and is an 11‐month position. Sue Danner is retiring at the end of May, 2012, from athletics advising. COAP meeting with the president, today at 2:00 PM. College of Education News: Sharon Butcher is retiring from COEHS at the end of May, 2012. XI. Old Business XII. New Business Kelly was recognized as WIU’s 2012 Outstanding Advisor of the Year for all her hard work. Ember has been awarded a Certificate of Merit Award from the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA). With over 10,000 members, only 18 people receive this award. Ember will be formally honored at the October NACA Conference in Nashville. Ember was presented with a certificate and cake was served to those in attendance, including Jean Bird and Andi Potter who had come for the presentation. The meeting adjourned at 12:00 Noon. Respectfully submitted Debbie Carithers