A&S; Curriculum Committee Minutes, 08/21/01

Members Present: J. McLeod, R. Powers, R. Roebuck, S. Seif, M. Stenger (Chair), R. Taylor, S. Willihnganz

Members Absent: M. Rohmann

Guests: Guests: J. Carter, J. Dietrich

The meeting was devoted to discussion of several policy proposals presented by Assistant Dean James Carter.

The proposal to remove the requirement for a minimum graduation gpa outside the major was supported by the committee and will be referred to the Faculty Assembly with the recommendation that it become effective for students graduating in December 2001. If the recommendation is approved, the gpa requirement for graduation would then be 2.0 overall and 2.0 in the major.

The committee established a sub-committee, consisting of Professors Powers, Roebuck, and Stenger, to work on a proposal establishing criteria for disability-based exceptions in mathematics and foreign languages and determining appropriate substitutions. The committee will work with Ms. Patus in the Disability Resource Center and also seek information from Dean Rothstein in the Law School in preparing its recommendations.

The committee did not approve a series of recommendations for adjusting the general education requirements in foreign languages, statistics or logic, history of civilizations, 300-level arts or humanities course, and physical education for students under catalogs prior to 2001-2002. The proposal would have waived requirements in these areas and substituted elective hours for students completing a degree under the old general education program (unless the requirement was specified by a department in the new programs of 2001-2002). The committee was sympathetic to the desire to promote degree completion and to avoid confusion between old and new general education requirements, but thought that students should complete one or the other sets.