Academic Standards Committee
September 24, 2003
Present: Geoffrey Block, John Finney, Fred Hamel, Michael Johnson, Betsy Kirkpatrick, Martins
Linauts, Andreas Madlung, Bob Matthews, David Moore, Jack Roundy, Maria Sampen, Ross
Singleton, Brad Tomhave, Ann Wilson, Kate Sojda (student), Emma Archer (student)
Absent: Houston Dougharty
Kirkpatrick called the meeting to order at 4:06 p.m. and turned attention to the minutes of the last
meeting.
Minutes. Kirkpatrick M/S/P approval of the minutes for the meeting of 9-10-03 with corrections
that will appear in a corrected version that will be submitted to Desi Turner for posting on the Web
by the close of business on 9-25-03.
Announcements
1. Finney reported that Dougharty had a conflicting meeting that prevented him from
attending this meeting of the ASC.
Petitions Committee Report
Actions on petitions are as indicated on printouts submitted to Wilson and summarized below.
Date
9/9/03 –
9/11/03
9/12/03 –
9/15/03
9/16/03 –
9/22/03
YTD
Approved
8 (3*)
Denied
2
No Action
0
Total
10
5 (3*)
2
0
7
15 (4*)
2
0
17
28 (10*)
6
0
34
* Parenthesized numbers indicate the number of the stated approvals done by the Office of the
Registrar as authorized by the Academic Standards Committee for resolution of specific issues of
registration.
Report on Re-Authorization of the Authority of the Triumvirate
Finney reported that the Triumvirate met before the first Petitions subcommittee meeting and
forwarded all petitions on to the subcommittee. At its second meeting, the triumvirate forwarded
three petitions to the subcommittee. In all cases, the sub-committee took the same action in
approving these petitions that the Triumvirate would have taken if it had had the same authority it
had in AY 2002-2003.
Tomhave reminded the ASC that the Triumvirate only approves those petitions that it feels the full
subcommittee would also approve. It does not deny any petitions. If there are questions about a
particular petition, or if the Triumvirate is not unanimous in its decision, the petition is forwarded to
the full subcommittee for review.
ACTION Singleton M/S/P that the ASC re-authorize the authority of the Triumvirate
for AY 2003-2004.
Appointment of Academic Dishonesty Ombudsperson
Kirkpatrick reviewed the procedure established by the ASC last spring that would give faculty
members the option of handling instances of academic dishonesty independently or referring the
case on to the Academic Standards Committee ombudsperson. Committee members reviewed a
motion passed in by the ASC in Spring 2003 in which the process and the role of the
ombudsperson were described.
There was considerable discussion about the role of an ombudsperson in mediating instances of
academic dishonesty, the need for such a person in light of the process that is already
established and in place, the extent of the authority of an ombudsperson, and the wording of the
process as it is currently described. Other concerns discussed included anticipating the workload
of an ombudsperson, and whether it was wise to anticipate problems that might arise before the
process has been tried. Kirkpatrick asked Finney if the ASC could rescind the policy if it so
desired. Finney responded that the ASC could rescind the policy, but recommended that the
members take some time to think about whether that is a wise decision. Tomhave suggested
deferring the decision until the process is needed. After further discussion without resolution of
these issues, action on this item was deferred until the next meeting, which is scheduled for
Wednesday, October 8, 2003.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:56 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Ann Wilson
Secretary