University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 30, May 8

            Faculty Senate approves rushes, elects officers
     
     At its Monday meeting, the University Faculty Senate
agreed to allow fraternities and sororities with the
highest, five-star rating to rush first-semester students.
     Effective in the fall, the resolution was introduced
last October when the senate voted to rescind its "no
pledging policy" because of a new Greek organization
accreditation process. In 1992, the senate had passed a
resolution that would have eliminated pledging by 1997-98.
     The five-star rating is part of the new accreditation
process put into practice this year. Each Greek organization
is evaluated in areas of academic progress, financial
management, University/community relations and service,
campus involvement and membership practices. Results of the
evaluation are used to rank the chapters by stars.
     In other business, senators rejected an effort to
disestablish the communication condition, sending the
resolution back to committee. Students who receive the
communication condition from faculty members are required to
complete written assignments at the Writing Center.
According to the resolution, many students delay for several
semesters, creating an extensive backlog in their senior
year.
     Senator Ann McNeil asked that the senate's Committee on
Undergraduate Studies come up with another method of "making
sure students don't graduate with these deficiencies."
     New senate officers for 1997-98 also were elected at
the meeting. They  are: Victor R. Martuza, educational
studies, president elect; Joann Browning, theatre, vice
president; Frank Dilley, philosophy, secretary; and Jon
Olson, chemical engineering, chairperson, Committee on
Committees.
     In his remarks to the senate, Provost Mel Schiavelli
said that as of May 1, the University had admitted 3,200 new
students, with an average  10-point increase in SAT scores.
The Honors Program recorded a record enrollment of 430
students, he said.