Academic Standards Committee Minutes
September 12, 1997
Present: Barry Bauska, Ken Clark, Greg Elliott, John Finney, Susannah Hannaford, Martins Linauts,
Stuart Smithers, Mary Morgan, Jack Roundy, Tanya Stambuk, Marianne Taylor, Peter Wimberger
1. Election of Chair and Secretary: Barry Bauska and Jack Roundy were elected chair and secretary
by unanimous consent.
2. Set Permanent Meeting Time: Meetings of the full committee and the Petitions subcommittee will be
held on alternate Fridays from 9-10 AM. The first meeting of the Petitions subcommittee will be Friday,
September 19, and the next meeting of the full committee on Friday, September 26.
3. Select Petitions Committee Members: In accordance with tradition, half of the faculty serving on the
full committee will serve on the Petitions subcommittee each term, as follows:
Fall
Spring
Greg Elliott
Ken Clark
Martins Linauts
Stuart Smithers
Tanya Stambuk
Susannah Hannaford
Marianne Taylor
Peter Wimberger
Peter Greenfield
John Finney, Associate Academic Dean, Mary Morgan, Associate Registrar, and Tom Gething,
Associate Dean of Students, will serve on the Petitions subcommittee for the entire year.
4. Petitions Committee Actions: Morgan reported summary statistics for academic year 1996-97: 285
petitions received; 220 approved; 58 denied; 7 no action. The Petitions subcommittee met 5 times during
the summer, including the probation and dismissal meeting, on which occasion 91 actions were taken.
5. Establish a Hearing Board: Finney reported a student grade complaint which, according to the
Academic Handbook (Logger, p. 25-26), must be taken to a Hearing Board since the instructor and
student cannot resolve their differences. Bauska will assign members to this board, including Tom
Gething, John Finney, two faculty members from the ASC, and two students named by Kevin Barhydt,
president of ASUPS.
6. Discuss Possible Agenda Items for the Year: The following 10 items were suggested as possible
agenda items for 1997-98:
•
(Finney) Revise the medical withdrawal policy in light of Ivey West’s nomination as staff member in
charge of support of all students with disabilities. The ASC passed a revision of the medical
withdrawal policy in 1996-97 which will need further tinkering, especially as regards students with
psycho/emotional disabilities.
•
(Finney) Revise class attendance/participation policy to address problems with students who are
attending none of their classes but continue to live on campus.
•
(Morgan) Serve as oversight committee for Task Force on Distributed Access, the group led by
Morgan to design and implement a computerized, decentralized academic records and registration
system.
•
(Finney) Review editorial changes proposed by Gething for the academic honesty policy.
•
(Finney) Decide whether last year’s charge of integrating Puget Sound’s academic honesty and
integrity codes is feasible and advisable, and if so, plan for that integration.
•
(Wimberger) Review Honor Code proposals brought forward in 1996-97 by Brodey and DiScala and
decide what further action we might want to take with them. Finney noted that in his experience, such
codes work only in those places where they are truly part of the campus culture, and for that reason
we will need overwhelming campus support to make one work at Puget Sound.
•
(Morgan) Consider proposal to prohibit petitions for immediate readmission by students who have
been academically dismissed for a full year.
•
(Morgan) Consider proposal to allow Morgan to delegate authority to act on class conflict petitions to
Registrar’s staff.
•
(Morgan) Consider proposal to permit audit registrations anytime during the add/drop period.
•
(Kirkpatrick) Consider proposal to set a minimum GPA requirement for students wishing to enroll for
an overload.
At 9:47, after receiving the last proposed agenda item, Bauska declared the meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted by the ASC amanuensis,
Jack Roundy