General Education Committee Minutes, 2/1/12
Members present: S. Caro, J. DeBoer, D. Klapmeier, J. Luckowski, J. Rabinovitch, A. Sillars, D.
Sloan
Ex-Officio Members Present:
Members absent: E. Adams, E. Johnson, D. Simpson, E. Uchimoto, N. White
Guest: S. Bradford
The minutes from 11/30/11 were approved.
Communication:

The General Education courses were approved at the Faculty Senate meeting. HSTR 302
was removed from the consent agenda.

Action on the General Education Framework revision was postponed. The meeting was
running late.

BADM 191 was approved for a one-time-only ethics designation for the spring semester.
Business Items:

Discussion of Chair-elect was postponed due to the absent of several members.

There will be additional 5 proposal for one-time-only general education designations for
Global Leadership Courses offered next fall. These will be submitted to the Faculty Senate
Office by February 10th. In order to expedite the condensed review. The proposals will be
sent to committee members electronically with the expectation for a discussion and vote at
the next meeting, February 15th. If there are major concerns with a proposal, it will then be
sent to a subcommittee with expertise in the specific general education group.

Chair DeBoer met with Dean Comer to discuss the pending motion. Dean Comer supports a
modern and classical languages requirement in general education. However, it cannot be an
unfunded mandate.
Modern and Classical Languages is currently collecting data on the numbers of students that
test out from first-year language courses. Chair DeBoer gathered enrollment data from
banner from 2006 to 2012 (chart attached). It’s difficult to discern whether the change to
the general education framework impacted enrollment. Courses are not full to capacity.
The change to the admissions standards and the availability of online language courses to
Montana High Schools could also impact the number of students that need first-year
language courses. Therefore estimating the cost of enforcing extended major status for the
exception to the language requirement isn’t easy.
Academic integrity and the university’s commitment to education for the global century
should also be considered. Other concerns include flexibility within the major for students
to take double majors. According to student member Klapmeier, many students will take
Spanish because it is the language that is offered in Montana high schools and students’
often choose the easiest route through general education.
The Committee will take a final vote on the motion on February 29th.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:12 PM.