Minutes
Faculty Senate Meeting
January 21, 2004
John Douglass called the meeting to order at 1:45 p.m.
Present: Professors Ahrens, Arneson, Burke, Cochran, Douglass, Fagelson, Fantie, Flug, Forst,
Heintze, Jacoby, Langbein, La Salle, Loesberg, Olmsted, Richardson, Riley, Rosenbloom,
Swallow, Vogelsong. Provost Kerwin and Dean of Academic Affairs Broder.
Absent: Professors Jennings, Karch, Schaeff, and Streitmatter
The minutes of the December 3, 2003 meeting were approved.
Report of the Provost
Neil Kerwin opened with comments about events that occurred during the winter break. He
noted, with sadness, the death of Helen Goldstein, Associate Librarian, on December 31. He said
Ms. Goldstein was not only a treasure in her role at the library—she was also one of the Senate’s
most important members. Over many years, she participated widely in Senate activities, focusing
much of her time on student and faculty committees. Dr. Kerwin also informed the Senate that
within 24 hours of Ms. Goldstein’s death, Pat Wand, the University Librarian, lost her daughter,
who died after a long struggle of her own. He said there would be a memorial service for Ms.
Wand’s daughter on January 31st at the Unitarian Center on River Road.
Turning to happier news, Dr. Kerwin then reported the following:
• Rick Rockwell’s coauthored book Media Power in Central America was named by the
American Library Association Choice magazine as one of the Outstanding Academic Titles of
2003. Professor Rockwell is Associate Professor in the School of Communication.
• The Washington College of Law was notified during the break that it had been selected to
become a member school of the Order of the Coif, an honorary scholastic society that encourages
excellence in legal education. Membership in the Order of the Coif, Dr. Kerwin observed, is an
honor equivalent in legal education to Phi Beta Kappa at the liberal arts level.
• Claudio Grossman, dean of the Washington College of Law, was elected to the United Nations
Committee Against Torture. Dr. Kerwin said Dean Grossman’s election to the committee is
recognition of a lifetime devoted to human rights.
The remainder of the Provost’s report was devoted to the following items:
Middle States On-site Review
The on-site review by a team of evaluators assigned by the Middle States Commission on Higher
Education was scheduled for February 8-11. The team would arrive on Sunday afternoon and
begin their activities with a tour of the campus, conducted by the Provost. On Sunday evening,
they would attend a dinner hosted by President Benjamin Ladner. Throughout the day on
Monday, February 9th and during the morning of Tuesday, February 10th, the team would
interview various constituencies on campus to gather information and perspectives from faculty,
students, staff, and administrators. On Tuesday, the chair, Mark Gearen, would spend the
afternoon summarizing the team’s findings in a written report to be presented to President
Ladner on Wednesday morning,
Dr. Kerwin reported that the evaluators would meet with the Faculty Senate sometime in the
early afternoon on February 9th. He asked that the senators make themselves available for that
meeting.
The members of the peer evaluation team are:
Mark Gearen, President, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY, Chair
James S. Dlugos, Vice President for Academic Affairs; Dean of Faculty; Professor of English,
Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, PA
Lois K. Draina, Dean, Graduate School of Arts and Science, Marywood University, Scranton,
PA
Jo Renee Formicola, Professor of Political Science, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ
Dorothy E. Habben, Vice President and Secretary of the University, St. John’s University,
Jamaica, NY
Naomi T. Johnson, Vice President for Student Affairs and Student Success, Edinboro University
of Pennsylvania, Edinboro, PA
Gary Raisl, Vice President for Finance, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Philadelphia,
PA
Robert E. Danford, Director, Wolfgram Memorial Library, Widener University, Chester, PA
Graduate Programs
Dr. Kerwin stated that he wanted to keep the issue of graduate programs high on the Senate’s
agenda. There is always concern coming off a process like the one the university went through
last year, he noted, that the only message that will be left with the community is one of
constriction and de-emphasis, and that is exactly to the wrong message to leave. The graduate
programs continue to perform exceptionally well, both qualitatively and quantitatively, he
reported. Moreover, faculty are engaged in discussions in their units about the future of
American’s doctoral and master’s degree programs. Dr. Kerwin said he was committed to seeing
that the aspirations for the programs will be realized.
Enrollments
Dr. Kerwin then reported that the university had enrolled 84 new freshmen for the spring
semester, a quite impressive performance. The number of full-time transfers for spring also
exceeded budget, with roughly 25 more students than expected, relative to last year. And while
the university was slightly behind on returning full-time undergraduates, that number was due in
part to a more aggressive number that was put into the two-year budget.
He also reported that 241 of AU’s students would study abroad in the spring, which he said gives
Vice President Bob Pastor a nice platform from which to increase the study abroad component of
the curriculum. The Washington Semester was well over budget, with 463 students enrolled. And
the revenue for graduate enrollments was right about on budget.
Dr. Kerwin then noted the following with regard to Fall 2004:
• Freshman applications were up 22 percent, relative to last year.
• Transfer applications were up 13 percent.
• Master’s applications were about 18 percent ahead of last year at the same time.
• Doctoral applications, as expected, were down, given last year’s program terminations, but the
programs that remain in effect appeared to be performing solidly.
University College
Dr. Kerwin reported that he had transmitted to John Douglass a proposal drafted by the
University College Project Team. He assured the Senate that there would be a formal process for
consultation on the document, which he said clearly laid out one set of options, but also raised as
many questions as it answered. He commended the project team for struggling with a tough set
of issues. He said the team also presented an extraordinary inventory of what the university
already offers in the first two years of the undergraduate experience.
Collaboration with the Office of International Affairs
Dr. Kerwin then noted Bob Pastor, vice president of international affairs, had met with the
Committee on Curriculum and Academic Programs. Vice President Pastor informed the provost
that the committee members had shared their interests and also their concerns about the
administrative burdens of expanding the international programs. Vice President Pastor is
continuing to pursue partnerships with a number of schools, Dr. Kerwin advised. He is also
developing plans for bringing more international students to AU. He has assured Provost Kerwin
that the academic integrity of the international programs will remain intact.
Ann Ferren Teaching Conference
Last, Provost Kerwin recognized John Richardson, Director of the Center for Teaching
Excellence, and Lyn Stallings, Associate Director, Teaching and Learning Services, for an
extraordinary job of planning the Ann Ferren Teaching Conference. The conference took place
on January 10th.
Report of the Chair
Echoing the Provost’s comments, John Douglass expressed appreciation to John Richardson and
Lyn Stallings for putting together a marvelous Ann Ferren Teaching Conference. He said the
sessions he attended were crammed to overflowing, and the discussions were often heated, with a
great deal of interest in particular topics.
He then referred to a draft of the agenda for spring semester. He said the last of the informational
sessions would take place that day, with Gail Hanson, vice president of campus life; Faith
Leonard, dean of students; and Fanta Aw, director of international student services, reporting on
student issues. The Senate will then move into brainstorming sessions to discuss some of the
challenges the university faces. On March 3rd, the Senate will review proposals developed by the
University College Project Team. Professor Douglass asked the senators to scrutinize those
proposals with care and to reflect on the options that will affect the curriculum and the faculty
teaching load.
Finally, Professor Douglass asked that the senators mark their calendars for two events: the
Distinguished Faculty Lecture on March 24th and the Emeriti Luncheon, on April 22nd.
Office of Campus Life Update
Gail Hanson, vice president of Campus Life, outlined key issues from a student perspective. She
spoke about Office of Campus Life goals for 2003-2004, as those goals match up with
institutional objectives. And she provided details about initiatives for enriching student learning.
She began by outlining issues of special concern for undergraduates. Those issues, in order of
importance, are campus safety; basic quality of life issues; the “Bermuda Triangle,” which is the
confluence of the Financial Aid Office, Student Accounts and the Registrar’s Office; financial
aid; and intra-campus communication. She said the challenges confronting graduate students
involve affordable housing, parking, and out-of-pocket expenses, such as printing fees.
She then described a wholly different set of concerns from the perspective of the Office of
Campus Life, noting that mental health was at the top of the list. She said Campus Life has had
to be come pretty sophisticated in being able to address the fact that some students are now
coming to college with serious emotional conditions; for the most part, however, they are able to
function because of medication. Campus Life staff are also concerned about self-defeating
behaviors—the abusive use of alcohol and drugs, credit card debt, and sleep deprivation. A
larger area of concern involves what is perceived as a general coarsening of relationships across
the university, not just between and among students. The office is working on a civility
campaign to address that issue.
Calling attention to information in a packet that she distributed to the senators, Vice President
Hanson then spoke about Campus Life goals and commitments. She noted that the division’s
mission statement called for “collaboration with faculty to prepare students for life-long learning
and global citizenship.” The division has also delineated a set of behavior characteristics that
describe what it’s like to operate in a student-centered university and has developed a set of
quality measures, called CORE, which addresses how units within the division will evaluate their
own performance. Finally, Vice President Hanson said Campus Life is committed to stressing
the importance of American University’s institutional values, using the theme “IDEAS”—
internationalization, diversity, ethics, action, and service.
Alcohol and Drug Issues
Faith Leonard, dean of students, reported that while American does not appear to be a party
school, the university is aware that, in general, across society, alcohol consumption among youth
is a particularly serious problem. She said a federal task force report, issued last year, noted the
following statistics about alcohol consumption among college students:
• 1,400 college students die of alcohol-related incidents each year;
• 5,000 students are injured in such incidents;
• 600,000 engage in assaults of some sort related to alcohol;
• 70,000 are victims of alcohol-related sexual assaults.
Those numbers had come home with stark reality, she observed, when on the previous Sunday
evening, five AU students sitting at a light on Wisconsin Avenue were rear-ended by a drunk
driver. One student was killed.
Dean Leonard then described the results of a Core Alcohol and Drug Survey that was
administered in 28 undergraduate classes in Spring 2002. The survey revealed that:
• 31 percent of the sample were drinking 3 times a week or more;
• 54 percent reported binge drinking (defined as 5 drinks in a row) within the last two weeks.
She said the consequences of alcohol or drug consumption on academic performance were
severe:
• 23 percent performed poorly on tests;
• 35 percent missed a class;
• 17 percent reported having been in trouble with the police or with university personnel;
• 40 percent of all respondents said that other people drinking interfered with their studying.
She said she had convened a campus-wide task force to address these issues. The group had
tightened some of AU’s policies, including the policy on parental notification. It offers programs
for high-risk groups of students. A marketing sub-group works with students on the design of a
series of posters for the residence halls, using the logo THINK. The task force is also doing more
in student orientations to enhance the dialog between students and parents about alcohol and
drug issues. Dean Leonard said the university is active in a consortium group that works closely
with the metropolitan police to target bars where there is a lot of underage drinking.
International Student Issues
Fanta Aw outlined four areas of issues facing international students.
Enrollment Issues – Despite the fact that enrollment trends at AU appear to be quite strong, over
the last two years, the university has seen a decrease in international enrollments of about 16
percent. That increase is attributable to several factors:
• The changes in immigration laws that have occurred post September 11th.
• The phasing out of the English Language Institute, which attracted a lot of students who would
come for English language training before matriculating into a degree program.
• The fact that the Immigration Services, for the most part, has closed the door on non-degree
enrollments, particularly for students on F-1 visas.
Ms. Aw said the Office of International Services had taken the following steps to stabilize
international enrollments.
• Encouraged the graduate units to give priority to international applications.
• Trained credential evaluators in the units, to decentralize the credential evaluation process.
• Increased the amount of pre-departure information provided to international students.
• Continued to work with overseas advisors to increase the visibility of American University in
other countries.
Immigration Issues – Ms. Aw said the biggest challenges post September 11th are clearly the
immigration issues. Among the challenges on the immigration front are the following:
• The National System for Entry and Exit Registration, which affects 22 countries. This program
requires students from the designated countries to report to the local immigration office to be
fingerprinted and photographed and to go through an interview process to make sure they’re in
the United States for the purpose of study. The Office of International Services is in discussions
with the Department of Homeland Security to see whether it is possible to phase out this
program.
• The US-VISIT Program, which enables the United States to verify the identity of incoming
visitors and confirm compliance with visa and immigration policies. Most visitors entering the
states have their fingerprints scanned and their photographs taken. Ms. Aw said AU students
have reported that this process has gone quite smoothly.
• The requirement that students applying for visas must go in for in-person interviews. In some
countries, it’s averaging 8-10 weeks to get an appointment at the U.S. Consulate to get a visa.
In addition, a lot of businesses and other entities have taken it upon themselves to institute
policies and procedures that have made it quite difficult for students. For example, some banks
require that students obtain a social security number before they can open an account, even
though that is not required by law.
Academic Issues – Ms. Aw said the main change on the academic front relates to the
implementation of SEVIS, the Student Exchange Visitor Information System. Under this system,
students are required to complete their work on time; there is no room for program extensions.
Moreover, the availability of courses is crucial, to ensure that students are able to enroll in
courses they need to remain in compliance.
With the phasing out of the English Language Institute, several measures have been put in place
to support international students, including the following:
• The Academic Support Center has realigned positions so there is a coordinator working
specifically with international students.
• The College Writing Program has a temporary position for a counselor to work with
international students.
• The International Student Services Office also has a point person who is responsible for
coordinating academic support.
International Student Services is also working with the academic units to ensure there is
consistency in the proficiency level, with regard to TOEFL scores.
Financial Issues – At the graduate level, especially the Ph.D. level, once students have used up
their fellowships after three years, they are struggling financially. Unlike their American
counterparts, they cannot work off-campus.
Finally, Ms. Aw noted that beginning in August 2004, the Department of Homeland Security
will institute a new fee called the SEVIS fee, which students will need to pay before they can
apply for visas. Homeland Security has not yet determined how the fees will be paid.
Block Scheduling for Undergraduate Courses
Provost Kerwin engaged the Senate in a preliminary discussion about block scheduling for
undergraduates. He explained that he was especially concerned about the number of 100 and
200-level courses that are offered in 2 ½ hour blocks, both day and night, but particularly at
night, and particularly in the 8:10-10:40 time slot. He said he would bring to the Senate in March
data from the Registrar’s office about how AU offers its undergraduate program.
He noted three categories of reasons for block scheduling:
• Physical limitations, i.e., there are not enough classrooms to allow all the courses to be offered
in the more conventional two-day-a-week, one-hour-and-fifteen-minute-per- session, format.
• With the rising cost of education, more and more undergraduates find it necessary to work and
are usually working during the day.
• In order to free up time for scholarship and research, some faculty may prefer to teach in a 2 ½
hour block, again, largely in the evening.
Provost Kerwin said the discussion needs to focus on the empirical reality. From his perspective
as chief academic officer, he said the empirical reality shows that the number of 100 and 200level courses taught in the evening, and taught at 8:10 in the evening, is larger than makes sense
educationally. This is particularly the case while the university is simultaneously trying to
integrate its undergraduates into a learning community where engagement during the day has to
be a major value. He said he would therefore ask the Senate, as he had asked the deans, to take
the lead in examining the wisdom of block scheduling.
Several senators commented on the issue of block scheduling:
Wendell Cochran, School of Communication – One administrative point to be kept is mind is the
use of adjuncts in some fields. Some adjuncts are not available during the day, especially two
days a week. Some of them are very good teachers. We want to reduce the number of adjuncts
but not get rid of good teachers.
Phil Jacoby, Kogod School of Business – There is reason to be suspicious, in some instances,
about the matter of faculty convenience versus student education. So there is some room for peer
pressure and oversight.
John Douglass, School of Communication – The bottom line is the Senate is the Calendar
Committee. Maybe the Senate ought to generate a motion to direct the Registrar that 100-200
level classes are not to be scheduled after 8:30 at night. The Senate could create a policy and
force an exception to take place.
David Fagelson, School of Public Affairs – If AU wants to ensure that faculty are committed and
on campus regularly throughout the week, the university could schedule classes to meet three
days a week.
Provost Kerwin responded to the Wendell Cochran’s comment about adjuncts and to Professor
Fagelson’s suggestion about altering the schedule. He said it was not his intent to get rid of good
adjuncts—the idea that the majority of the faculty who teach in the blocks are adjuncts is
incorrect. With regard to a schedule change, he said altering the day and time schedule would be
a massive undertaking.
For the Good of the Order
Janice Flug, University Library, presented a sense of the Senate resolution expressing deep
sadness at the passing of Helen Ruth Goldstein and acknowledging Ms. Goldstein’s numerous
contributions to the University Library, Faculty Senate and American University. The Senate
voted unanimously to endorse that resolution, which is attached.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:05 p.m.
HELEN RUTH GOLDSTEIN
1958-2003
Whereas, Helen Ruth Goldstein provided dedicated library service to the students and faculty of
American University for twenty-three years;
Whereas, Ms. Goldstein was an exceptional library faculty member in her capacity as Access
Services Librarian overseeing six library units;
Whereas, Ms. Goldstein was a pioneer in the Washington Research Library Consortium
(WRLC) libraries, helping to initiate new electronic services, such as e-reserves and my
ALADIN;
Whereas, Ms. Goldstein was a leader on campus and served on the Conduct Council, Faculty
Relations Committee, Faculty and University Benefits Committees, Committee on Student
Relations, Committee on Summer Sessions and the University Senate;
Whereas, Ms. Goldstein was honored with the 2003 University Faculty Award for her
outstanding service to the university community;
Whereas, Ms. Goldstein was an active contributing member of the American Library
Association (ALA) and the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA);
Be it resolved that the American University Senate expresses deep sadness at the passing of
Helen Ruth Goldstein and acknowledges her numerous contributions to the University Library,
Faculty Senate and American University.