Minutes - 9/16/1999

Call to order:

President Mikkelsen called the meeting to order at 4:17 p.m.

Senators present:

Aschermann, Brooks, Fowler, Hamzee, Nelson, Wagner, Bargar, Brandt, Greiert, McLear, Mikkelsen, Roberts, Wallner

Senators absent:

Cronk, Leonard, Reidy

Ex-Officio:

Janet Murphy, president of Missouri Western State College Kathyrne Mueller, administrative associate to the vice-president for academic affairs

Guests:

Len Archer, David Bennett, Brenda Blessing, Jeanie Crain, Kenneth Dagel, Lee Evinger, Jennifer Hegeman, John Rushin, Sandra Schumm, Cornelius Van Dyke

Minutes of the Previous Meeting:

The minutes of the September 2, 1999 meeting were approved with the following corrections (Wagner/Brooks):

(1) corrected spelling of curriculum committee member Carolyn Brose

(2) grievance committee membership for the period January 1, 1999 – January 1, 2000 amended as follows: (a) Larry Andrews (CJ/LS, PS) replaces David Heizer (Nursing, PS); (b) Robert Bergland (E/FL/J, LAS) replaces William Copeland (Biology, LAS)

(3) grievance committee membership for the period January 1, 2000 – January 1, 2001 amended as follows: Larry Andrews (CJ/LS, PS) replaces Deborah Abelman (Education, PS)

Report from the college president:

MWSC president Murphy reported that she has been gathering and compiling data on MWSC staff increases and changes as well as revenue and budgetary statistics and matters. Furthermore, she again emphasized the importance of widespread staff participation in the upcoming capital campaign.

Report on Funding for Results (FFR):

Kathyrne Mueller, administrative associate to the vice-president for academic affairs, extended an invitation to all interested faculty to attend the upcoming FFR poster dinner to be held September 30.

Report from the faculty senate executive committee:

Mark Mikkelsen, president of the faculty senate, recommended the appointment of R. J. Dick to the grievance committee to replace Reza Hamzee, for which senate approval by consensus was granted. In addition, president Mikkelsen recommended that a charge be added to the fringe benefits committee of exploring the possibility of improving half-time faculty benefits (especially in light of the fact that half-time faculty members have recently lost health insurance benefits), for which approval by consensus was granted.

Old business:

MOTION: that the following general studies proposals be sent to the curriculum committee (McLear/Cronk)

1(a). Change the course title of PED 101 from “Concepts of Physical Activity” to “Fitness and Wellness.”
1(b). Accept all one hour physical activity courses as satisfying the one hour physical activity requirement rather than requiring students to choose from a selected list of courses.

4. Allow foreign language courses more advanced than those currently listed under Category Four – Humanities, line 4 (i.e., FRE 102, GER 102, and SPA 102) to be used to satisfy this requirement.

5. Add a fourth subcategory, computer literacy, to the list of required Category One – Basic Skills courses, and allow students to satisfy this requirement either by completing one of two existing courses, CSC 100 Computer Literacy or CSC 101 Computers and Information Technology, or by
passing a proficiency examination.

A motion was passed to divide the question (Wagner/Roberts).

As to the first part of the division:

1(a). Change the course title of PED 101 from “Concepts of Physical Activity” to “Fitness and Wellness.”
1(b). Accept all one hour physical activity courses as satisfying the one hour physical activity requirement
rather than requiring students to choose from a selected list of courses.

Brenda Blessing was invited to speak to the issue. After a brief discussion, the motion passed by unanimous decision.

As to the second part of the division:

4. Allow foreign language courses more advanced than those currently listed under Category Four – Humanities, line 4 (i.e., FRE 102, GER 102, and SPA 102) to be used to satisfy this requirement.

Sandra Schumm was invited to speak to the issue. After a period of discussion, the question was called (Greiert), and the motion passed by unanimous decision. (See Attachment A for exact wording for catalog.)

As to the third part of the division:

5. Add a fourth subcategory, computer literacy, to the list of required Category One – Basic Skills courses, and allow students to satisfy this requirement either by completing one of two existing courses, CSC 100
Computer Literacy or CSC 101 Computers and Information Technology, or by passing a proficiency examination.

It was announced that Jennifer Hegeman will speak to this issue at the October 7 senate meeting. For that reason, a motion was passed to defer action to October 21 (Wagner/Roberts).

MOTION: that the following proposal of the general studies committee be sent to the CGAC (Greiert/Leonard)

2. Add an additional course, GEO 160 Physical Geography, to Category Two – Natural Sciences, line 3.

President Mikkelsen reviewed the executive committee’s assessment of procedural issues and substantive issues in regard to this motion (see Attachment B). During this preliminary review, senator Greiert took issue with Mikkelsen’s statement in procedural issue number one, stating that each side indeed had a clear sense of the other side’s position. During Mikkelsen’s review of procedural issue number four, Dr. Kathyrne Mueller rebutted, stating that the issue of possible duplication had been addressed seriously, and the conclusion had been made that GEO 160 would cover the same material (as ESC 111) from a different perspective. Finally, it was concluded by Mikkelsen that there were no gross procedural errors in the curriculum and general studies committees’ reviews of this proposal.

Kenneth Dagel spoke in favor of the proposal from four standpoints (see Attachment C): (1) whether there is overlap in material between GEO 160 and other general studies courses currently being taught; (2) physical geography as a natural science laboratory survey course; (3) physical geography in other institutions; and (4) general studies philosophy. John Rushin spoke against the proposal from the following standpoints, based on a letter he had written on June 9, 1998 (see Attachment D): (1) general
studies Category 2 courses should be broad-based surveys, whereas physical geography is a specific part of a general survey course in geography; (2) whereas some other Missouri educational institutions have a different general studies philosophy (than MWSC’s) in that more specific courses are offered, it would be to our benefit not to change our more general survey course philosophy for Category 2 general studies.

Following Dr. Rushin’s statement, president Mikkelsen questioned Rushin's account of Missouri Western's philosophy of general studies. Dr. Len Archer then distributed a copy of a petition which had been circulated in April, 1999, entitled “Petition to the Missouri Western State College General Studies Committee,” to which twenty-seven faculty members affixed their signatures, therein registering their opposition to the proposal (see Attachment E).

After a few more brief comments from senators and guests, the question was called (Greiert). After determining that a quorum of senators was present, the call was made for a roll-call vote on the motion
(Greiert). Upon polling the members, the motion failed with six “no” votes (Brooks, Fowler, Nelson, Bargar, Brandt, Wallner), four “yes” votes (Aschermann, Hamzee, Greiert, McLear), and one abstention (Roberts).

Adjournment:

The meeting was adjourned at 5:32 p.m. (Wallner/Roberts).

Respectfully submitted,


G. Barry Nelson, secretary