UpDate - Vol. 13, No. 30, Page 2
May 5, 1994
Faculty Senate approves higher Dean's List GPA

     The semester grade point average required for the Dean's List was
raised Monday by the University Faculty Senate.
     Currently, the required grade point average for Dean's List is 3.25,
and the senate raised the average to 3.33, which is a B+ average. The
change will first apply to next year's freshman class. According to Barbara
Viera, professor of physical education and chairperson of the Committee on
Undergraduate Studies, the change is likely to reduce the number of
students on the list by 2 percent.  Twenty to 22 percent of the
undergraduate student population makes the Dean's List, she said.
     In other action, a resolution to change the credit-by-examination
grading procedures was sent back to committee after a discussion of the
impact on a student's transcript. The proposal sought to increase the range
of grades possible through examination and would not have allowed credit by
examination for experimental courses or independent study.
     A DUSC request for student representation on a new Academic Priorities
Review Committee intended to advise the incoming provost led to a
discussion of the make-up of the new committee. Originally, the resolution
called for a five-member committee composed of current and former
chairpersons of the Faculty Senate Coordinating Committee on Education.
First, the senate resolved that DUSC form its own committee and then,
following a proposal by Sen. Vivian Klaff, associate professor of
sociology, to change the committee composition, the senate voted to send
the resolution back to the Executive Committee.
     Several officers and committee members were voted upon by the senate.
Serving next year under senate president John McLaughlin will be Thomas
Calhoun, president-elect; Thomas Angell, vice president; and Jon Olson,
secretary. Charles Boncelet was elected chairperson of the Committee on
Committees and Nominations.
     Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Margaret Andersen spoke to the
senators about new academic initiatives, noting that new student
orientation, scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon, Aug. 29, is intended to
introduce students to their majors and "excite them about academic study."
     Urging departments to plan for freshman seminars and other small-group
interactions, she noted that two videos are being developed to help
students build such academic skills as how to take class notes. The
Professional Theatre Training Program also is creating a 25-minute comic
skit on "things that go wrong" for students, from missing drop/add
deadlines to forgetting senior checkout.
     A computerized course advisement system that allows advisers to
compare a student's academic record to degree requirements on-line "is up
and running" in the College of Engineering, Andersen said, and in process
in the colleges of Nursing, Education and Human Resources.
     Robert Brown, chairperson of the Ad Hoc Committee on Freedom of
Expression in Public Events, provided a preliminary report to the senators.
Brown said the report, when completed, will be a "ringing endorsement of
freedom of expression," while taking into account that lectures,
performances, exhibitions and theatrical presentations cannot violate
University regulations, health and safety requirements or state or federal
laws. The report will support the right of people to protest without
interfering with the public event. He said the committee had decided not to
recommend setting up a forum for dissenting opinions.
                                                  -Cornelia Weil