Academic Standards Committee minutes
February 14, 1997
Present: Perry Fizzano, Tanya Stambuk, John Finney, Betsy Kirkpatrick, Melissa Wiens, Peter Greenfield,
Martins Linauts, Mary Morgan, Sarah Moore, Ann Willcockson (guest)
1. Approval of Minutes: The Minutes of the 1/30/97 meeting were approved as submitted.
2. Announcements:
Morgan related that there is a discrepancy regarding the mid-term grades being sent to students, which
include the designations U,W, WF and F, while the language in The Logger (page 28) states only U and F. The
committee agreed to correct this discrepancy by adding "W and WF' to the listing in The Logger.
Moore brought up the issue of unit overload, in reference to the proceedings of the Petitions Committee,
suggesting that guidelines be established for minimum GPA. Finney related that there used to be a policy, but
was discarded. The issue will be placed on the agenda for a future ASC meeting.
3. Report of the Petitions Committee: Morgan presented the reports for 2 meetings;
1/29/97;
18 total
16 approved
2 denied
0 no action
2/5/97;
11 total
8 approved
3 denied
0 no action
YTD:
145 total
120 approved 22 denied
3 no action
4. Review and discussion of Faculty/ASUPS Survey: Designing a Decentralized, Computerized Records
and Registration System - January 14, 1997:
Kirkpatrick raised the question; What do we do now with the information in the survey results? Finney
stated that the purpose of the survey was to determine whether the work of the ASC was in synchrony with the
thoughts of the faculty, and he asked if any committee member noted any responses that might indicate that the
ASC should take another direction.
Morgan brought up the lingering question regarding ADD/DROP signatures "policy", which reflected a split
in opinion among the faculty. Discussion of the topic followed around the table. Kirkpatrick summarized the
discussion with the suggestion that the ADD/DROP signature "policy" remain status quo as currently stated in the
Summary Report and see how it works ("...advisor approval for adds and drops...provisional assumption that
advisor permission should be required only prior to registration and after the add and drop-without-record
periods.").
Morgan then brought up the issue of signature "codes" and how that system will work, i.e. who, faculty or
student, will enter the codes? She will be meeting with OIS, and will bring back proposals to the committee,
possibly by the end of the term, but more likely during the summer.
5. Medical Withdrawal Policy:
Finney began the discussion by stating that the Medical Withdrawal Policy was instituted 3 years ago, with
the knowledge that it would need to be re-visited. Morgan stated that she sees 3 basic issues to address; a.)
timing - should student be able to initiate the process prior to automatic W period?
b.) nature of the problem policy was instituted for illness/hospitalization, however, most of the petitions seem to be of
emotional/psychological nature c.) re-entry issue - degree of documentation required, as well as timing of reentry. Willcockson, as an example, cited cases where students take medical withdrawal on last day of finals, and
then come back at beginning of the next term 3 weeks later. Is this really good?
Due to the seriousness of the issue, it was decided to continue the discussion as the sole agenda item at
the next meeting on February 28. At that time, Sherry Mondou and Maggie Smith, from the Controller's Office, will
also join the meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 8:55.
Respectfully submitted,
Martins Linauts