Faculty Meeting Minutes
February 16, 2000
President Pierce called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m. Eighty-nine voting members of the
faculty were present.
Minutes of the January 31, 2000 faculty meeting were approved as distributed.
In response to President Pierce's call for any announcements, student senator Erin Smith
announced that ASUPS was sponsoring an open forum on the core curriculum at 5:00 p.m.
Monday, February 21, 2000 in the Rotunda of Wheelock Student Center.
President Pierce announced that at their recent meeting the trustees approved the library and the
first phase of the Jones/Howarth renovations, and a schematic design for a new residence hall.
She said that Robert Trimble '37 has recently told her that he and his family wished to be “a longterm force for excellence and innovation” at Puget Sound and in that connection has committed
two million dollars for the new residence hall. The trustees have endorsed her recommendation
that the new hall be named for Mr. Trimble's father, Charles Garnet Trimble who once served as
the Puget Sound athletic team physician.
We returned to discussion of the core curriculum. William Beardsley M/S/vote reported later
“To approve the Omnibus Motion, consisting of eight required core courses and a foreign
language degree requirement, as follows:
Two courses required of all freshmen, a “Seminar in Writing and Rhetoric,”
and a “Seminar in Scholarly and Creative Inquiry.” These courses do not
count toward the major.
Five “Approaches to Knowing” courses (these courses may count toward
the major):
Humanistic Approaches (disciplinary orientations of classics, literature,
history, philosophy, religion, relevant courses in fine arts, and related
programs such as Asian Studies etc.)(1 unit)
Social Scientific Approaches (economics, politics, psychology, sociology,
relevant courses in communications, and related programs such as
Political Economy or Environmental Studies)(1 unit)
Natural Scientific Approaches (biology, chemistry, geology, physics) (1
unit)
Mathematical Approaches (1 unit, including relevant courses in other
departments such as computer science)
Fine Arts Approaches
These five approaches consist of broadly conceived courses that would
focus on basic disciplinary content and methodology in accordance with
guidelines to be drafted by the Curriculum Committee (or ad hoc task
forces) and presented to the full faculty via the Faculty Senate. Such
guidelines would postulate the number of courses to be offered under
each rubric, curricular scope and requirements, and class size. These
core courses would be permitted to be counted toward particular majors.
University of Puget Sound Faculty Meeting Minutes
February 16, 2000, Page 2
One “Connections” course:
Courses satisfying the requirement will contribute to students'
understanding of the interrelationship of knowledge, or to their informed
appreciation of self and others as part of a broader humanity in the world
environment, or both. They will be upper-level, interdisciplinary courses
that create connections between disciplines with respect to methodology
and content. The courses will involve the collaboration of faculty from
more than one department or the efforts of individual faculty with
interdisciplinary expertise.
The foreign language graduation requirement could be met by at least one
of the following:
1. Two semesters of a foreign language at the 101-102 college level, or
one semester of a foreign language at the 200 level or above.
2. Test out by passing a proficiency exam that would be at the level of 3
years of high school language or first year college, scoring at or
above the first year on the U.P.S. foreign language proficiency exam.
3. Receive a score of 4 or 5 on the A.P. exam.
4. Students with documented learning disabilities which affect the ability
to process language may be eligible for waivers.”
This Omnibus Motion was gleaned from faculty meeting minutes by Faculty Secretary John
Finney, was distributed to faculty by email on February 8, 2000, and was posted to the University’s
web site on February 10, 2000.
Keith Ward M/S/vote reported later “to amend the Omnibus Motion by replacing it with a
substitution that reconceptualizes the proposed new core in the Omnibus Motion by
grounding it in the current core, as follows:
PART A - To re-approve the current core curriculum with the following
modifications:
Replace Communication 1 and Communication 2 rubrics with two freshman
seminars, Freshman Seminar in Writing and Rhetoric and Freshman
Seminar in Creative and Scholarly Inquiry, as already developed for the
omnibus motion and approved by the faculty on 11 November 1998.
Collapse the Historical Perspective and the Humanistic Perspective rubrics
into a single rubric intended to broaden students’ understanding of human
experience;
Collapse the Society and International Studies rubrics into a single rubric
intended to broaden students’ understanding of social, economic, and
political systems;
Reduce the Natural World core requirement from two units to one;
Collapse the Comparative Values and the Science in Context rubrics into a
single rubric entitled “Comparative Studies” with courses at the upper level
only.
University of Puget Sound Faculty Meeting Minutes
February 16, 2000, Page 3
PART B – To add the foreign language graduation requirement approved on
11 November 1999 for the omnibus motion as previously developed.”
Ward spoke in support of the amendment, pointing out similarities and differences between it and
the Omnibus Motion. His comments followed arguments presented in the document “An
Amendment to Substitute the Omnibus Motion,” distributed to faculty by email on February 9,
2000, posted to the University’s web site on February 10, 2000, and attached to these minutes.
Suzanne Barnett also spoke in favor of the amendment. She said that to go from the current
twelve or thirteen-unit core to an eight-unit core required merging three pairs of requirements
(historical and humanistic perspectives, society and international studies, and comparative values
and science in context) and dropping one altogether (one of the two natural world courses). In the
proposed new comparative studies requirement, comparative values and science in context
rubrics would not actually be merged. Rather, students would choose one or the other. She said
the proposed comparative studies requirement retains the spirit of the connections course in the
Omnibus Motion and encourages, but does not require, interdisciplinarity.
Beardsley responded by saying he worried “about the form” of this. What do “merge” and
“collapse” mean in the context of rubrics, he asked. He argued, for example, that historical and
humanistic perspectives are “either/or” and are not “mergeable.” He said it would be hard to
justify such a merger in writing, and he suggested we might not be able to convince accreditors of
its legitimacy. Larry Stern said he thought merging the rubrics would be easy to justify with careful
writing. Matt Warning said he thought the proposed merged rubrics were too complicated and
that he preferred “a clean slate.” Dean Cooney argued that the mergers being proposed were not
“disjunctions” of the kind that would give accreditors pause. He offered as an example of the
latter a hypothetical merger of humanistic perspective and mathematical reasoning.
Doug Cannon said he was tempted to move that the motion be divided to allow separate
consideration of what in the Omnibus Motion was called the connections course, and everything
else. He said that, with the possible exception of connections, there was “little at stake” choosing
one proposal or the other. He said that while he thought the omnibus motion was cleaner, he
could live with the amendment.
President Pierce at this point reminded us that whichever proposal was approved could be
amended.
Ted Taranovski said he would vote against the amendment. He asked Ward if wording in Part IV
of his handout was “an effort to mandate international studies” in the proposed merged rubric.
Ward responded no, that Part IV was not a part of the motion. But Stern argued that present
language did mandate international studies unless it was rewritten. Haltom suggested that adding
the words “and/or within” after the word “among” would resolve the issue. But he added that we
should focus in our discussion on real differences between the two proposals, not on cosmetic
wording.
Molly Pasco-Pranger wondered whether there would still be the same prerequisites for the
proposed comparative studies requirement as currently exist for comparative values and science
in context courses.
George Tomlin argued that what we want to do is “make a core for the future, not the present.”
He said the Omnibus Motion “opens space for growth and development in the future.” He said,
for example, that there is more room for the psychology department to be a part of the Omnibus
University of Puget Sound Faculty Meeting Minutes
February 16, 2000, Page 4
Motion than the amendment, and that there is more room for international studies in more places
in the former than in the latter. He said the Omnibus Motion is “more nimble” than the
amendment, and we should vote for the Omnibus Motion so we won’t have to plow this same
ground again in a couple years.
John Dickson M/S/P to close debate. The motion to close debate passed on a voice vote.
A paper ballot was called for. The Ward amendment then failed, with 31 in favor and 54
opposed. This left the omnibus motion as the main motion on the floor.
Barnett asked on what principles courses would be included or excluded from an “approaches”
category. She said that in order to achieve coherence, we would need to give instruction to
whichever committee is working on this. She said that when the core curriculum was created in
1976, each requirement was described by a paragraph that was voted on, and that the task forces
subsequently created came up with guidelines in short order, about five days.
Taranovski said he envisioned approaches courses as being primarily the introductory courses
taught in the existing core. Warning suggested we ask questions such as Barnett’s later. Garrett
agreed, reminding us that in 1976 the task of drafting guidelines was an opportunity for faculty to
gather and that could happen again. President Pierce said she believed that the expectation of
the faculty throughout the process had been that the task of writing guidelines would go to drafting
committees that would report back to the entire faculty with opportunity for amendments.
Dean Cooney raised the issue of the place of science in the core. He pointed out that science
“takes the greatest hit” in the Omnibus Motion. He and Mott Greene described the work of
national organizations that are trying to emulate what we have already accomplished with science
in context. Greene added that what we are in effect doing is replacing science requirements with
foreign language requirements in a nine or ten unit core, not significantly smaller than the existing
core. He argued that this was not a good outcome and that he was very worried about a degree
in which science constituted only 1/32 of the total.
Heidi Orloff said that from her perspective debate over the core has appeared to consist primarily
of territorial arguments from the beginning. She also worried about ending up with a core that is
too big with too little science.
David Tinsley said he was troubled by Greene’s “attempt to frame the debate as science versus
foreign language.” He said foreign language “is not to blame” if science loses, because foreign
language would simply regain a place in the curriculum “that it once had.” He added that the
proposed core is not really as big as it appears because the “approaches” courses can be used
toward the major.
Juli McGruder argued that students should have greater access to the education we provide and
that students should not have to take more than two core courses in residence. President Pierce
ruled McGruder out of order unless she was prepared to make a motion. McGruder M/S/motion
withdrawn “that only two core courses have to be taken at the University of Puget Sound.”
Beardsley suggested it would be better to consider this kind of issue at a later date. Warning
wondered how it would truly be a Puget Sound degree with only two core courses in residence,
and he M/S to close debate, but before a vote could be taken, McGruder withdrew her
motion.
Warnng M/S/P to close debate on the Omnibus Motion. The motion to close debate passed
on a voice vote. A paper ballot was called for. The Omnibus Motion passed with 56 in
favor and 23 opposed.
University of Puget Sound Faculty Meeting Minutes
February 16, 2000, Page 5
We adjourned at 5:22 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
John M. Finney
Secretary of the Faculty
University of Puget Sound Faculty Meeting Minutes
February 16, 2000, Page 6
An Amendment to Substitute the Omnibus Motion
Section I of IV: The Amendment
PART A - To re-approve the current core curriculum with the following modifications:
1. Replace Communication 1 and Communication 2 rubrics with two freshman seminars,
Freshman Seminar in Writing and Rhetoric and Freshman Seminar in Creative and
Scholarly Inquiry, as already developed for the omnibus motion and approved by the
faculty on 11 November 1998.
2. Collapse the Historical Perspective and the Humanistic Perspective rubrics into a single
rubric intended to broaden students’ understanding of human experience;
3. Collapse the Society and International Studies rubrics into a single rubric intended to
broaden students’ understanding of social, economic, and political systems;
4. Reduce the Natural World core requirement from two units to one;
5. Collapse the Comparative Values and the Science in Context rubrics into a single rubric
entitled “Comparative Studies” with courses at the upper level only.
PART B – To add the foreign language graduation requirement approved on
11 November 1999 for the omnibus motion as previously developed.
Section II of IV: Comment on the Amendment
•
This motion would yield a core curriculum of 8 units in the following structural scheme that
could have labeled categories such as those below:
ENCOUNTERS (2 units)
Freshman Seminar in Writing and Rhetoric
1
Freshman Seminar in Scholarly and Creative Inquiry 1
EXPLORATIONS (5 units)
Mathematical Reasoning
Historical and Humanistic Perspectives
Fine Arts
Society and International Studies
Natural World
REFLECTIONS (1 unit)
Comparative Studies (300/400 level)
1
1
1
1
1
1
8
Also included is the foreign language graduation requirement as passed by the faculty.
•
The proposed “Reflections” requirement in Comparative Studies would attempt to encompass
principles of the proposed “Connections” requirement, although it would replace the
requirement of interdisciplinarity with the possibility of such inquiry.
University of Puget Sound Faculty Meeting Minutes
February 16, 2000, Page 7
•
The proposed altered omnibus motion would yield a core curriculum with the following
desirable characteristics:
1. “Change within tradition”: an acknowledgment of the value of the current core curriculum
as well as the incorporation of curricular proposals that have been developed as part of
discussions toward revision of the core. Specifically, this proposal attempts to include our
work on rubrics, first-year seminars, a foreign language requirement, and Connections.
2. Fulfillment of the effort to reduce the number of units in the core curriculum. In this
proposal, as in the omnibus motion, that reduction would be from 12-13 units to 8.
3. “Verticality” in the core as served particularly by the freshman seminar sequence and the
upper-level Comparative Studies requirement.
4. Clear core venues for the humanities (Historical and Humanistic Perspectives), the social
sciences (Society and International Studies), the natural sciences (Natural World),
mathematical reasoning, and the fine arts. Alternative venues are available for each of
these divisions of the liberal arts and sciences curriculum in the first-year seminars and/or
Comparative Studies.
•
Understood is the necessity of creating one-paragraph descriptions of the intent and general
content of each core rubric, which means revisiting paragraphs currently in existence and
drafting paragraphs for new rubrics. The creation of specific guidelines can await later
development through an appointed faculty committee, though possible guidelines are
suggested in section IV of this document.
University of Puget Sound Faculty Meeting Minutes
February 16, 2000, Page 8
Section III of IV: Comparison of the Omnibus Motion to the Amendment to Substitute the
Omnibus Motion
Omnibus Motion
[FRESHMAN SEMINARS (2 units)]
Freshman Seminar in Writing and Rhetoric
Freshman Seminar in Scholarly and Creative
Inquiry
Amendment to Substitute the Omnibus Motion
[ENCOUNTERS (2 units)]
Freshman Seminar in Writing and Rhetoric
Freshman Seminar in Scholarly and
Creative Inquiry
APPROACHES TO KNOWING (5 units)
Humanistic Approaches
Fine Arts Approaches
Social Scientific Approaches
Natural Scientific Approaches
Mathematical Approaches
[EXPLORATIONS (5 units)]
Historical and Humanistic Perspectives
CONNECTIONS (1 unit, 300/400 level)
Interdisciplinary Course, either a newly
developed course or a qualified course from
the present CV and SCXT requirements
[REFLECTIONS (1 unit, 300/400 level)]
Comparative Studies: a course in
Comparative Values or Science in Context
Foreign Language Graduation Requirement
Foreign Language Graduation Requirement
Fine Arts
Society and International Studies
Natural World
Mathematical Reasoning
Section IV of IV: Expanded Proposal
ENCOUNTERS (2 units)
Freshman Seminar in Writing and Rhetoric
Freshman Seminar in Scholarly and Creative Inquiry
1
1
As approved by the faculty on 11 November 1998
EXPLORATIONS (5 units)
Mathematical Reasoning
A course in mathematical reasoning should develop an understanding
of mathematics and of quantitative reasoning, logical reasoning or the
algorithmic method. (Current Core Curriculum MR rubric)
1
University of Puget Sound Faculty Meeting Minutes
February 16, 2000, Page 9
Historical and Humanistic Perspectives
1
Possible new paragraph to replace the two separate HI and HU paragraphs in
the current Core Curriculum:
A course in Historical and Humanistic Perspectives should provide
students with an understanding of human experience encompassing the
legacy of the past. A course with historical emphasis should enable each
student to appreciate the historical process by demonstrating that
contemporary experience contains elements of cultural, intellectual, and
social heritage and should enable each student to place herself or himself
in the historical continuum of past and present. A course with humanistic
emphasis should focus upon the nature of individual human experience and
consider what it means to be human in an intellectual, moral, and emotional
sense. Humanistic-emphasis course material should be drawn from classic
works which make essential and important statements about the human
experience and which have lasting meaning and worth. (DRAFT)
HI and HU paragraphs in the current Core Curriculum:
A course in Historical Perspective should be designed to develop in each
student an appreciation of the historical process by demonstrating that contemporary
experience contains elements of cultural, intellectual and
social heritage. Individual courses may proceed from the past in
chronological fashion or from present concerns back toward historical
roots. The student should be confronted with the past and with the
present in a manner which will enable that student to place herself or
himself in the historical continuum. (Current Core Curriculum HI rubric)
A course in Humanistic Perspective should focus upon the nature
of individual human experience and consider what it means to be human
in an intellectual, moral and emotional sense. Its material should be drawn
from those classic works which make essential and important statements
about the human experience and which have lasting meaning and worth.
The course should address problems of identity and self-consciousness, particularly
the individual's attempt to distinguish his/her own circumstances
and thoughts from those of others. (Current Core Curriculum HU rubric)
Fine Arts
1
A course in Fine Arts shall be designed to introduce students to human expression in the
creative arts. This course will emphasize the critical
and analytical approaches to the fine arts, and will provide opportunity to experience
representative art forms. The course may focus on one or
several of the various fine arts, such as music, visual arts, literature, and
drama. (Current Core Curriculum FA rubric)
Society and International Studies
1
University of Puget Sound Faculty Meeting Minutes
February 16, 2000, Page 10
Possible new paragraph to replace the two separate SO and IS paragraphs in the
current Core Curriculum:
A course in Society and International Studies should enable students to
understand cultural, social, economic, and political systems and forces that
shape contemporary relations among nations, institutions, and peoples.
The course may emphasize the use of social scientific theories and
methods to analyze the social world broadly conceived and the student’s
relationship to it, or the course may emphasize global events and the
student’s relationship to them. (DRAFT)
SO and IS paragraphs in the current Core Curriculum:
A Society course should enable students to use social scientific theories
and methods to analyze cultural, economic, political, and social systems
and to understand their own relationship to the social world. The course
may focus on limited topics, but it must clearly relate the material studied
to larger frameworks and to broad conceptions of the social world. (Current Core Curriculum
SO rubric)
An International Studies course should examine the political, economic,
cultural and social forces that shape contemporary relations among the
world's nations, institutions, and peoples. A course in International
Studies should enable students to understand international and global
events and to define their own relationship to them. (Current Core Curriculum IS
rubric)
Natural World
1
A course in the Natural World should be designed to acquaint each
student with substantial aspects of the natural world. Laboratory or field experiences
should be included to familiarize the student with current
methods of inquiry. The relationship of the individual to the natural
environment and to scientific technology should be explored wherever
possible. (Current Core Curriculum NW rubric)
REFLECTIONS (1 unit): Comparative Studies (300/400 level courses only)
Possible sentence to precede separate paragraphs for the two options in this
category:
A course in Comparative Studies will give students the opportunity to explore the
boundaries between different value systems or different ways of viewing the
natural world. (DRAFT)
1
University of Puget Sound Faculty Meeting Minutes
February 16, 2000, Page 11
One of the following:
Science in Context. A course in Science in Context should have the objectives
of increasing the student's curiosity about the sciences, portraying the
interrelationships among scientific disciplines, and giving context to knowledge
of the sciences by relating such knowledge to other forms of understanding
and to deliberations leading to practical choice. (Current Core Curriculum
SCXT rubric)
or
Comparative Values. A course in Comparative Values develops a critical
understanding of different value systems—a value system being a structure of
beliefs about the relative worth of ideas, acts, or objects--found in intellectual,
moral, or aesthetic traditions. Such a course explores the cultural choices
individuals and societies make. The course encourages students to understand
the way value judgments, including their own, enter into and shape human
activity. (Current Core Curriculum CV rubric)
TOTAL UNITS
8