Academic Standards Committee
September 10, 2003
(Corrected version following meeting on September 24, 2003)
Corrections are underlined.
Present: Geoffrey Block, Houston Dougharty, John Finney , Fred Hamel, Michael Johnson, Betsy
Kirkpatrick, Martins Linauts, Andreas Madlung, David Moore, Jack Roundy, Maria Sampen, Ross
Singleton, Brad Tomhave, Ann Wilson, Kate Sojda, Emma Archer
Absent: Bob Matthews, Martin Jackson, Carol Merz
Finney called meeting to order at 4:05 p.m.
Betsy Kirkpatrick was elected chair and Ann Wilson was elected secretary.
The permanent meeting time for the ASC for fall term will be 4:00-5:00 p.m. on alternate
Wednesdays. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 24, 2003 in the Misner
Room of the Collins Memorial Library.
Tomhave described the role of the ASC Petitions Subcommittee and called for volunteers to
serve on the sub-committee for fall term. The committee members are:
Geoffrey Block, Houston Dougharty, John Finney, Michael Johnson, Andreas Madlung, David
Moore, Maria Sampen, Brad Tomhave and student reps Emma Archer and Kate Sojda. Tomhave
asked that members of the subcommittee review pp. 50-52 of the Logger before the first meeting.
The subcommittee will meet September 11, 2003 at 8:15 am and weekly on Mondays at 2:00
p.m. for the remainder of the term.
Tomhave described the role that the Registrar’s Office assumed last year in reviewing and
dealing with petitions that traditionally pass by the full petitions committee and asked the
committee to consider delegating that same authority again for this academic year.
ACTION Tomhave M/S/P that the ASC delegate authority to the Registrar’s office
for AY 2003-2004 to deal with petitions in the following categories:
Independent Study
Late Add
Time Conflict
Medical Withdrawal
Petitions Committee Report
Date
4-24-03 to
9-8-03
YTD (AY 20022003)
Approved
74
Denied
23
No Action
0
Total
97
266 (64*, 95**)
64
0
330
* or ** Parenthesized numbers indicate the number of stated approvals done by the Office of the
Registrar (*) as authorized by the Academic Standards Committee for resolution of specific issues
of registration or done by the administrative Triumvirate (**) according to established guidelines.
Finney distributed a list of nine possible agenda items that were either deferred or left over from
the committee’s work last year.
1. Evaluating the work of the ASC administrative triumvirate in approving petitions.
2. Consider what to do about the “Response to Instances of Plagiarism and Other Acts of
Academic Dishonesty” printing error in the 2003-2004 Logger.
3. Consistent with the new Gateway Policy, consult with the Registrar and Director of
Academic Advising to identify 100 and 200 level courses that do not appear to be
available to their intended freshman and sophomore student populations.
4. Review the School of Music’s request to recommend to waive tuition for certain students
taking music lessons over the 4.25 academic limit.
5. Review the Emergency Administrative Withdrawal policy.
6. Examine the consequences of students being able to drop/add courses without prior
notification of their advisor and requiring students to have an advisor in the major once
the Dean’s ad hoc committee on Academic Advising has completed its work.
7. Consider revising the policies for students on academic warning or probation so that such
students are required to meet with someone in Academic Advising or their faculty advisor
to develop a plan for academic improvement.
8. Continue the discussion of mid-term grades and consider taking formal steps to publicize
to the faculty the importance of consistently submitting mid-term grades and doing so in a
timely manner.
9. Consider taking formal action to increase the number of faculty who are participating in
the early alert system once the Dean’s ad hoc committee on Academic Advising has
completed its work.
Finney indicated that this list does not include charges to the ASC from the Faculty Senate, and
that additional charges will likely be forthcoming.
The committee discussed item #1 from the list above. The triumvirate consists of Brad Tomhave,
Jack Roundy and John Finney. The role of the triumvirate is to preview and approve petitions that
it feels would be approved by the full petitions committee. The triumvirate needs to be unanimous
in its decisions. The triumvirate does not deny petitions. Instead, it refers difficult or controversial
petitions on to the petitions sub-committee. The committee reviewed the process that was
decided upon at the ASC meeting of 4-21-03 whereby the ASC annually reauthorizes the
Triumvirate following a procedural check early each term in which the Triumvirate and petitions
subcommittee independently review all petitions to see if the decisions of each group are
congruent. The committee agreed to go through this process and review the results before voting
to re-affirm the Triumvirate’s authority for this year.
The committee discussed item #2 from the list above. The printed version of the 2003-2004
Logger does not include the process decided upon by the ASC last year of having an ASC
ombudsperson available for instances of academic dishonesty. Roundy suggested that the
committee take action on this item early in the term.
Action Singleton M/S/P adding wording to the electronic version of the Logger as
soon as possible and publicizing the new process via e-mail.
Finney will draft a memo about this change to the campus community and send it on to
Kirkpatrick for her review and distribution.
Kirkpatrick will meet with Finney to set the agenda for the next meeting which is scheduled for
Wednesday, September 24, 2003 in the Misner Room.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:57 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Ann Wilson,
Secretary