WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY FACULTY SENATE MINUTES

Summary of Action:  
1. Accepted the annual reports of Faculty Senate Standing Committees -- Executive, Planning & Budget, University Curriculum

I. Call of the Meeting to Order: President Spurgeon called the meeting to order at 3:32 pm.

Senator Brooks said that due to faculty and student absenteeism on Fridays we should explore the possibility of scheduling classes for two days a week. He requested that faculty ask their departments about four-day week of classes. President Spurgeon said the business school does not have classes on Fridays. Senator Ross said the business school has done this for about 10 years. There was a discussion about alternative scheduling and the utilization of space. Provost Miller suggested that the Operations Council look at the issue.

III. Approval of the Minutes: The approval of the minutes March 9, 2009,, meeting were accepted as presented.

IV. President's Report:
A. President Spurgeon introduced Athletic Director Sexton who thanked the faculty for their work in helping the 200 student athletes at the university. Last fall the student athletes achieved an overall average GPA of 3.2, the highest average GPA in the university’s history. He talked about his background with WSU as a student and in governmental relation. He also provided an overview of athletics, and talked about WSU’s goal to win the Missouri Valley All- Sports Trophy. Several senators asked questions. Senator Schneegurt asked about providing passes to faculty for some of the sports. Senator Gordon asked about if football will be back. Dr. Sexton said that WSU wants to be as successful and competitive as possible, and that looking at the current economy it is not a reality at this point. If the economy changes – it would need to measured against what we have and not hurt the current programs. Finally, he reported on the status of the facility upgrades.

B. President Spurgeon talked about the current information on the budget. The legislature has agreed to an approximate cut of 7.1%, but that there are some unfunded mandates which in effect mean a larger reduction. The Kansas Board of Regents meet this week, and they will be discussing the issue of the proposal made to the legislature last month about the tuition freeze.

Senator Dale asked if there is any collaborative stimulus money. Provost Miller said there is vigorous activity to attract stimulus funds for research, and said that if any faculty members have proposals to let David McDonald know.

A. Rules Committee -- Deborah Soles, chair. There were two senate nominations: Brian Driessen – Engineering, and Jo Bennett - Educational Leadership. The nominations were approved unanimously.
The Rules Committee also nominated faculty members to fill positions of faculty senate committees, and the list of nominees was attached as a link to the agenda. --http://webs.wichita.edu/senate/Rules%20-%202006.htm

B. Faculty Senate Standing Committee annual reports:
        Executive --- accepted
        Planning and Budget --- accepted
        University Curriculum -- accepted

A. 8.05 / Policy on Student Academic Misconduct proposed revisions (2nd reading) -- http://webs.wichita.edu/senate/prop-studentmisconduct.htm

President Spurgeon summarized the background of the “X/F” policies. The SGA approved a policy in 2004, and the faculty senate modified that proposal and approved its own version in 2005. That version was not accepted by Provost Miller, and instead, a task force appointed by him looked at the issue and drafted a different version. The Academic Affairs Committee’s proposal to the senate involved some changes to the task force version.

There was considerable discussion about some problems with the “X” grade, in both the assessment of it and how it might be removed. The current proposal has no provision for removal of the grade. There was also discussion about how this compares to the current procedure for incidents of academic misconduct through the dean of students, and also the Court of Academic Appeals.

The proposal would require a faculty member to report to the dean of students every instance of assessing an “F” for an assignment or a final grade due to academic misconduct. Provost Miller noted the dean of students already collects the information. Another concern by the senators was the problem of a student who is caught cheating during the semester and withdraws before a final grade can be assessed. How would that be handled?

It became apparent that many senators had significant concerns about the X grade and the procedures. SGA president Gearhart was asked if the students today would support an X grade, and he indicated that he did not think so. Provost Miller said that he opposes the idea of an X but the task force worked on this because the faculty had approved it. As a result of the discussion it became apparent that there is very little current support for the concept of an X grade. President Spurgeon summarized it by saying that he sensed that the current proposal is not supported, that the X grade is not supported, but that there is agreement that perhaps the current procedure for handling instances of academic misconduct may need some revising in the future. Several Senators suggested that a comparison of the WSU policy and other pier institutions might be helpful.