UNIVERSITY
COUNCIL
Minutes No. 1
2002-2003
Thursday, October 24, 2002
I. CALL TO ORDER
AND ATTENDANCE: The James
Madison University Council met on Thursday, October 24,
2002.
PRESENT: Mr.
Ralph Alberico, Dr. Violet Allain, Dr. Patricia Brady, Dr. Teresa
Gonzalez (for Doug Brown), Dr. Michael Busing, Ms. Andrea
Fischetti, Dr. Karen Forcht, Dr. Steve Frysinger, Mr. John Horigan,
Mr. Charles King, Dr. Sharon Lovell, Dr. Ramon Mata-Toledo, Dr. Lin
Rose, Dr. Michael Smilowitz, Dr. Kathy Stafford, Mr. Levar Stoney,
Dr. William Walker, Dr. Mark Warner, Dr. Richard Whitman, Ms. Emily
Wyman, and Dr. David Zimmerman.
ABSENT:
Dr. Jerry Benson, Dr. David Brakke, Ms.
Donna Harper, and Dr. Robert Reid.
II. ELECTION OF SECRETARY:
The secretary to University
Council must be appointed by Council. Duties of the position include preparing and
electronically posting the agenda for members of Council, recording
attendance, and recording and electronically posting copies of the
minutes.
On motion of Dr. Dick Whitman
and seconded by Dr. Mark Warner, Ms. Donna Burch was appointed
secretary to the Council for 2002-2003.
Other
Business:
Dr. Rose announced that the
Council would meet electronically unless there are action items on
the agenda or if there is a specific request to hold the meeting.
This proved to be effective and time saving for everyone for the
past several years when Faculty Senate requested the change. With
decentralization within the university, it was not productive for
this body to consider issues when it could be dealt with
effectively within other units.
Therefore the remainder of the meetings will be done
electronically. The procedure will be: Reports will be sent from
the commission/committee chairs to Ms. Burch, secretary to the
Council, two weeks before the scheduled meeting. For the November
meeting, she will e-mail you to let you know that they are
available for your review. You will need to review these minutes
and send Ms. Burch (burchde) an e-mail message by 5:00 p.m. on the
day of the meeting stating that you have done so. If she does not
hear from you, then you are counted as absent.
If anyone has any concerns or
questions about this process, please let me know.
III.
COMMISSION/COUNCIL REPORTS:
Committee on Academic
Programs:
Dr. Steve Frysinger, Chair,
forwarded the following report.
The Committee on Academic Programs (CAP) held its
first meeting of the 2002-3 academic year on October
11th, 2002. Four topics were discussed.
Certificate Programs Proposal:
Bill Walker described their proposal for handling
academic certificate programs. While there was no action required
by the CAP, the discussion was lively and productive. Since in the
proposed plan proposals for such certificate program would go
through the normal C&I process, the CAP will see them only if
there is inter-college dispute.
Interdisciplinary Programs
Proposal:
Teresa Gonzalez described a proposal by the
Committee of College C&I Chairs to facilitate the handling of
interdisciplinary program proposals, and a brief discussion
ensued.
Dean's and President's List
Qualifications:
Teresa indicated that the Faculty Senate had voted
to recommend a change in the credit hour requirements for Dean's
and President's list qualifications. She asked whether the CAP felt
that it should have a role in approving such a change, and the
sentiment of the committee was that it should not, given that this
policy has traditionally been handled by the Senate.
BA/BS Degree Requirements:
We continued our discussion of the BA/BS
requirements, with the intention of arriving at a recommendation
for dealing with definitions of such terms as "mathematics" as
pertains to the determination of which courses can satisfy the
various requirements for degrees. We hope to resolve this in our
next meeting (November 22nd).
Graduate
Council:
Dr. N. William Walker, Interim Dean, forwarded the
following report:
The Graduate Council met both electronically and as
scheduled for the months of September 2002 and October 2002. The
following actions may be reported:
Old Business:
Administrative approvals during summer 2002
-Fifty-two Faculty/Instructor approvals
-Thirteen Minor Change Request approvals
-Six electronic Faculty/Instructor approvals
-Seven electronic Course Approval/Changes
approved
New Business included the
following:
• New policies adopted:
-Transfer
of Courses into A JMU Graduate Program
-Graduate
Teaching Assistants: Training and English Language Competency
-Continuous Graduate Enrollment
-Extending Doctoral Program Timeline
• Issues under
discussion:
-Grading change discussion for Graduate
Programs
-How students who have completed a program but need to
come back for endorsement are entered and captured in the student information
system
-Purchasing or developing standard templates for
dissertations/theses
-Procedure for creating and approving policies for
"Graduate Programs of Distinction"
-Advising enhancement initiative presented by Karyn
Sproles
-Use of Web Manager presented by Andy
Perrine
-Entry tests for MFA
-Cooperative program with Radford and George Mason
University
3. Comments from
Stephanie Dupal regarding Graduate Student Association:
The goal
of the GSA is to create a community for graduate students that will
encompass academic, social, intramural, and seasonal
activities. The Steering Committee
is composed of five students who expressed an interest in a survey
by Barbra Gabriel and Lennie Echterling, faculty advisers for the
GSA. Stephanie Dupal asked that each graduate program nominate a
student to represent them on the GSA. The GSA will meet regularly
and operate much like the Graduate Council. An Open House for all Graduate Students to get
acquainted is set for October 23 at Grade Street House. Workshops facilitated by and for graduate
students will be offered. Graduate
coordinators were encouraged to get involved with the GSA both as
coordinator and on an individual basis in order
to get acquainted with students from other disciplines.
4. Comments from the Graduate Council
representatives to the Committee on Academic Programs:
Dr. Foucar-Szocki explained that the CAP
committee looks at new program establishment and how the new
program fits into the mission of the University. Graduate student representation is needed on
the committee.
5. Comments from
the College of Business about on-line executive graduate
programs:
Cathy
Sullivan presented information on the MBA and MSA on-line executive
graduate programs and encouraged other graduate programs to look
into the opportunities afforded by distance learning.
6. Comments from
Reid Linn regarding cooperative program with Radford and George
Mason University:
Reid Linn
commented on discussion taking place with Radford and George Mason
University to develop a consortium that will
offer courses for endorsement. All courses for endorsement would be
accepted no matter where they are taken; however, each university
would still maintain the teacher education programs. This would
provide a method for reporting MAT programs to SCHEV
Announcements:
-Dr. Walker sent out an e-mail regarding the JKC
scholarships - note our funding web site
www.jmu.edu/cgapp/funding.htm
-The Graduate Fair will be held November 14 in the
College Ball Room in cooperation with the senior class. Each
graduate program is encouraged to have a table.
-A bulk e-mail will be sent out to graduate
students informing them of the new Continuous Enrollment
Policy.
IV. REPORT
OF THE FACULTY SENATE
Dr. Michael Smilowitz
forwarded the following report:
A. Bond
Initiative
Between 80% and 90% of the faculty signed the
"letters to advisees" that were circulated by the Senate.
B. Standing
Committees
Academic Policies:
1. The Senate approved the following revision in
the Catalog's wording for selection to the President's List.
"To
qualify for the honor of being placed on the President's List, a
student must earn a grade point average of 3.90 or above in at
least 12 graded hours of course work." (Changed from previous requirement of 14
hours).
On motion of Michael Smilowitz, seconded by Steve
Frysinger, the above revision for the selection to the President's
List was approved by Council.
2. The Committee (along with the Faculty Concerns
Committee) responded to the Academic Advising Initiative, by asking
for clarification about the specific nature and magnitude of the
need for additional actions regarding academic advising.
Faculty Concerns
Committee:
3. The Committee is gathering information regarding
the conversion of current RTA faculty with ranks of assistant
professor and above to tenure-track positions.
4. The Committee is gathering information to
determine if the Faculty Handbook's description of tenure
procedures requires revision to provide University-wide consistency
on processes such as the composition of the PAC committees that
provide in-progress reviews of tenure-track faculty, the placement
of spouses on review committees, and clarifying procedures for
joint appointments.
Student/Faculty
Relations:
5. The
Committee has identified a number of recommendations to improve the
attendance of students at the presentations of major speakers.
6. A representative of SGA now sits with the
Senate.
C. Ad Hoc
Committees
Faculty Emeriti Committee:
The committee has met, organized by Professor
Emmert. The committee is finding
that: (1) some concerns that seemed
to need attention actually do not and (2) some other concerns
actually require much more investigation than what was thought
necessary.
Day Care Initiative:
The Committee has surveyed the faculty and nearly
completed analyzing the survey data. Information has been gathered on "in-house day
care centers" at other organizations, both private and public. The Committee expects to present its
preliminary report, including an operation plan, to the Senate at
the November meeting.
"Expanding Horizons" Project:
Thomas Harrison Middle School has agreed to provide
students for the project, and its counseling staff is currently
identifying the first 24 participants.
V. REPORT OF THE
STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION
Mr. Levar Stoney, SGA President, forwarded the attached
report.
September 11th: A Day of
Remembrance
In remembrance of the tragedies
of September 11, 2001, the JMU community united once again to
reflect and honor the victims of that horrific day. The Student Government Association (SGA) along
with a coalition of clubs and organizations across campus
coordinated a display of events that were both honorable and
solemn. The events commenced with a morning interfaith prayer
service attended by many. During
the afternoon hours, clubs and organizations passed out red, white,
and blue ribbons in honor of the victims. In addition, the Wilson Hall bell tolled four
separate times marking the time of impact of each airliner. At noon, the university as whole
observed a moment of silence together on the Quad. The presentation of the colors by the JMU ROTC
and the playing of "Taps" by two trumpeters representing the
Marching Royal Dukes prefaced the moment of silence. The lasting image of students, faculty, staff,
and administrators standing in silence for more than ten minutes
will always resonate in the minds of those who attended.
The evening candlelight vigil
reenacted an event that was spontaneously planned the year
before. On this occasion a vast
amount of students joined in the creation of a beautiful
illumination of lights. Students
also heard words from JMU President Dr. Linwood Rose and SGA
President Levar Stoney. These words
were followed by an opportunity for students to reflect and share
the impact of September 11th at an open microphone. Attendance at this event exceeded that
of last year's and showed the appreciation and respect many
students had for this memorable day.
In culmination to our September 11th
efforts, the SGA is viewing the possibilities of creating a
memorial in honor of the three JMU alums and the parent that
perished in the attacks. This
project is currently being pursued by President Stoney and the four
class council presidents. The
vision is to collect donations for the planting of four trees and
placing of plaques near the Leeolou Alumni Center. It is our hope that this site will be one of
remembrance for all who attend the university in the future.
Virginia 2002 Higher Education & Parks
Bond Referendum
In effort to bring the Virginia 2002 Higher
Education Bond Referendum to fruition, the SGA has been working
closely with administration to spread awareness of the issue both
on and off campus. The SGA conducted an intense voter registration
drive in the first week of October, which reaped record amounts in
both voter registration and absentee ballot applications. These
drives were conducted by the Student Senate's Legislative Action
Committee on the Commons and in the College Center. Student Senate
also overwhelmingly passed a resolution in support of the 2002 Bond
Referendum.
The SGA also launched an advertisement campaign
entitled "What Would You Do With $99.9 Million?" This corresponds with the amount of funds JMU
would be receiving for projects from the bond referendum. The
campaign was unveiled to the community and local media at a press
conference in one of James Madison University's most decrepit
buildings, Theater II, which is due for renovation upon the passage
of the bond. The campaign will
consist of posting of posters and a website especially dedicated to
the Virginia 2002 Bond Referendum. This campaign will help in the
education and awareness of the issue, and show how important it is
that the students utilize their right to vote in the upcoming
election.
In addition, the SGA plans to conduct a grassroots
campaign of door knocking in the community to spread the word about
the importance of the referendum to Harrisonburg and JMU. The SGA will also follow in line with
other universities in the Commonwealth and try to perform a phone
banking effort to encourage students to vote on Election Day. SGA
President Levar Stoney has also help the cause by writing letters
to the editors of the school newspaper, The Breeze. He plans to do the same for the Harrisonburg
newspaper, the Daily News Record.
The James
Madison University Budget Crisis
With the announcement of Governor Mark Warner's
budget reductions on October 15th the university is
expected to face a 10.4 percent cut. The SGA understands with such a cut that the
possibility of a tuition increase may occur. Currently, Student Government Association is
deeply concerned about the implementation of such a measure as a
mid year raise in tuition, but the Student Senate has not debated
nor responded to legislation on this issue as of yet. As responsible student representatives we are
thoroughly seeking, researching, and discussing the facts of this
critical issue. The SGA only wants
the best for the everyday JMU student. In order to find where the everyday student
stands on the issue the SGA plans to hold a campus wide referendum
on October 21st at the Commons, ISAT, and in Zane
Showker Hall. Earlier this week
after polling 8% of the student body, the SGA passed a resolution
in support of a $150 mid-year tuition hike.
Student
Senate Focus: Community Affairs
This year the SGA plans on taking a proactive role
in the Harrisonburg community to improve and strengthen the
relationship between Harrisonburg and JMU, through better
communication and by developing a working relationship with city
officials. This task has been
closely pursued by the Student Senate's Community Affairs Committee
under the leadership of Chairwoman Jenny Brockwell.
Already this year, the committee has attended every
City Council meeting since the commencement of the new school year.
Jenny Brockwell gave a speech to the city council and has met with
the Mayor, City Planners, City Clerk, the Daily News-Record (DNR),
and Chamber of Commerce President on a regular basis. The committee
also promoted downtown restaurants for Parent's Weekend, and has
appointed two students (non voting members) to sit on the
Harrisonburg Transportation Commission.
Currently, the committee is working on receiving
the DNR on campus to be purchased by students. They also are
working to place JMU paraphernalia downtown and in the Harrisonburg
Business District. To show that the SGA wants a long lasting
relationship the committee is in the process of creating a Clubs
and Organization Thanksgiving Food Drive Challenge. This will
hopefully help needy families in the Harrisonburg community for the
holiday.
Furthermore, the committee collected monetary
donations for the Harrisonburg Deputy Sheriff who lost his house to
fire. They will also be assisting in the campus-wide volunteer day
with University Program Board and Student Ambassadors, and work to
produce a State Dinner between city, community, and student leaders
and student leaders.
Moreover, the committee plans to hold an outside
movie on Main Street/Court Square for the citizens of Harrisonburg,
give JMU/SGA reports in the Chamber of Commerce Newsletter, promote
more student attendance at council/community meetings, and promote
more community service opportunities. We look forward to having
city leaders to speak at Student Senate meetings and continue our
reports at future city council meetings.
Spring Semester Focus
Next semester the SGA will be
looking at the following 2 issues:
-Will establish an ad hoc
committee to review and possibly revise the Senate
Constitution.
-The SGA will look into
instituting on-line voting to encourage more students to
participate in the election of SGA officers.
VI.
REPORT OF THE HONOR COUNCIL
Mr. John Horigan, Honor Council
President, provided the following information.
With a new year and a new executive board for the
Honor Council there come new challenges. We are fully dedicated to meeting these
challenges and going above and beyond what will be required of us
to do so.
In this report you will find information regarding
several issues with which we are currently dealing, including: Code
Violations, the Honor Advisory Board, Code revisions, as well as
New Officers and Representatives.
This report will be as brief as possible without sacrificing
necessary content, and should be easily understood. For those parts of the report that may require
explanation a short overview is included in this, the first of my
reports to the University Council, but will be excluded from
subsequent reports.
We are looking forward to a great academic year
with as few Code Violations as possible.
Case Update:
Informal resolutions
are agreements between a faculty member and a student accused of
violating the Honor Code. The
agreement is essentially a contract between the instructor and the
student regarding the violation, generally including an admission
of guilt, and the sanction for that violation. The maximum sanction that may be imposed by
this course of action is failure of the course without the option
to repeat/forgive. Average number
of Informal Resolutions for any academic year is highly variable.
Total Informal Resolutions for
2001-2002: 53
As of 10/18/02 for
2002-2003:
8
Formal Resolutions
are hearings granted to a student accused of violating the code for
any of the following reasons: First, the accused refuses to sign an
Informal Resolution, or denies guilt. Second, the faculty member involved deems the
violation too serious to be dealt with by only one faculty
member. Third, the student has one
or two prior violations, whether informal or formal. A Formal Resolution requires that a hearing
panel be convened with four students (three Honor Council
Representatives and the Council Vice President), and three faculty
representatives as the deliberations panel. The decision of guilt is made before intent
and sanctioning. Only after a
decision regarding guilt is made is the panel informed of any prior
violations. Minimum sanctions that
apply are as follows: for a first violation there is no minimum
sanction. For a second violation
suspension for one academic semester and failure of the course
without the option to repeat forgive. Lastly, for a third violation the minimum
sanction is expulsion. In past
years the average number of Formal Resolutions per year has
fluctuated around two.
Total Formal Resolutions for 2001-2002: 19
As of 8/6/02 for Summer Session 2002: 2 cases pending
As of 10/18/02 for Fall 2003: 2 under investigation
Appeals are granted
to students if and only if there was a violation of the rights of
the accused, there is new evidence regarding the case, or the
decision of the hearing body is deemed too severe. Special Panels
are hearing panels consisting of one faculty member and two student
representatives. These panels are
used only during the times indicated by the code to expedite a
case.
Total number of Appeals/Special Panels for
2001-2002: 8
New Representatives
are added to the council at the start of each semester. Any full- time student, undergraduate or
graduate may apply. We have begun
training 15 new representatives.
New representatives are:
|
Naheed Ahmed
|
Kevin Gibson
|
|
Daphne Anderson
|
Joseph Johnson
|
|
Kelli Baker
|
Katherine Ott
|
|
Bellamy Brown
|
Rachel Seidenburg
|
|
Rebecca Carter
|
Crysta Swarts
|
|
Alex Childs
|
Cory Winter
|
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Brandon Durflinger
|
Nicholas Villani
|
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Aaron George
|
|
Three Investigators are chosen by the Honor Advisory
Board from among a pool of applicants in April of the Spring
Semester preceding their term.
Katie Ferguson and Andrea Futty were chosen from among other
applicants. The third Investigator
has since resigned and John Gotwald was chosen by members of the
Honor Advisory Board from among five applicants to fill the vacant
position.
The Honor Advisory
Board is the board that oversees the actions of the Honor
Council, in particular amendments to the Academic Integrity
policies of James Madison University. The board members have just recently been
appointed and plan to meet as soon as possible.
The first code revision that will be proposed is a
change in the second tier sanction.
Currently the sanction for a second offense is failure of the
course in question without the option to repeat forgive and
suspension for one academic semester. The executive committee of the council will
propose that at this second offense a notation be placed on the
student's transcript indicating that a code violation was the cause
for the failing grade. Under
current sanctioning provisions, only the third tier sanction of
expulsion has any reference to a code violation.
After revision by the Honor Advisory Board, this
amendment will then be taken to the other appropriate bodies of the
university for approval.
Center for Academic Integrity: The Honor Council Coordinator, Maggie
Burkhart-Evans, and Honor Council President, John D. Horigan,
attended the Annual International Conference for the Center for
Academic Integrity hosted by The University of Virginia in
Charlottesville, VA, October 4th-6th. The conference was deemed to be a huge
success by all members of the Center in attendance.
While at the conference, John D. Horigan was
nominated to sit as a member of the Board of Directors for the
Center for Academic Integrity. This
nomination requires university approval as the position will
necessitate institutional support.
VII. REPORT
OF UPB
Ms. Emily Wyman, the Executive
Director for the University Program Board, presented the following
report.
The University Program Board has gotten off to a
running start this semester with events like the Heads vs. Feds
debate, the Hoobastank Convo concert, the Maasai Dance Troupe show,
the International film festival, the Virginia Docufilm festival,
and our first sneak preview of the year: Red
Dragon. Tonight we are running
the Talent Jam show in Wilson Hall and this year has been one of
the most successful in terms of the quantity and variety of acts
that were submitted.
Upcoming events for us include two concerts: Howie
Day and Nickelcreek. November
brings four co-sponsorships. We will be co-sponsoring the movies
Run Lola Run with EQUAL, and The Goonies with Habitat for
Humanities. UPB will also be
supporting the Asian Student Union's fourth annual Culture
Show. On November 11th
we will be bringing a speaker to do a program entitled "What
Everyone Needs to Know about Islam" with the Muslim Student
Association. We are very excited
about this program in particular because we feel it is extremely
relevant and helps to fulfill our mission of educating the student
body.
We are continually looking for new co-sponsorships,
programs and especially a Convocation concert for the spring
semester.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business,
the meeting was adjourned at 4:35 p.m.
NOTE:
The next
meeting is scheduled to meet electronically Thursday, November 21, 2002.
Linwood H. Rose,
President
Donna E. Burch,
Secretary
