COASTAL CAROLINA UNIVERSITY AY 2007 2008 FACULTY SENATE MINUTES

COASTAL CAROLINA UNIVERSITY
AY 2007 2008
FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
February 6, 2008
Wall Building, Room 309
4:30 - 5:55 PM
PRESENT: Bob Burney, Andy Hendrick, Kay Keels, Mark Mitchell, A. J. Taylor, Yoav
Wachsman, Gayle Disney, Judy Engelhard, Austin Hitt, Greg Mrtel, Sandra Nelson, Donald
Rockey, Sherer Royce, Becky Childs for Maria Bachman, Lisa Barboun, Lee Bollinger, Steve
Earnest, Eric Hall, Ken Martin, John Navin, Bob Oliver, Julinna Oxley, Alberto Perez, Paul
Peterson, Michael Ruse, Sandi Shackelford, Susan Slavik, Renee Smith, Shannon Stewart, Holly
Tankersley, Maria Torres, Deb Walker, Karen Aquirre, Erin Burge, Dave Evans, Terry Fries, Craig
Gilman, Jim Luken for Kevin Godwin, John Goodwin, Dan Able, John Hutchens, Keshav
Jagannathan, Bill King, Kerry Schwanz, Steve Sheel, Jason Eastman for Sylvia Snyder, James
Solazzo, John Stamey, Susan Webb, Allison Faix, Jennifer Hughes, Barbara Buckner
ABSENT: Tom Secrest
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A motion was made by Lee Bollinger, seconded by Yoav Wachsman
to accept the December 5, 2007 minutes as emailed. The motion passed.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: Evans reported that in the November 2007 minutes,
PSYC 201 had been corrected to PSYC 202, Introduction to Scientific Communication:
Evans reports that there are two candidates for the University Ombudsman position. The candidate
are Charmaine Tomczyk and Doug Smith. Ms. Tomczyk and Dr. Smith gave a short overview of
their credentials and their desire to be the Ombudsman. Ms. Tomczyk was chosen as the
Ombudsman.
PRESIDENT REPORT: Given by Dr. Sheehan
PROVOST AND OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS: Provost Sheehan extended a welcome
from President DeCenzo, saying that DeCenzo was in Columbia and asked that Sheehan extend his
best wishes. He would rather be here than off meeting with Legislative delegates, but he also
wanted you to know that to the best of his knowledge, all the bad news that could be out is out in
terms of the ongoing press. Moving forward now, Sheehan said, we have hired an Internal Auditor.
We seem to be putting in place the kind of financial controls that are necessary. If you have not
seen the “Blog” on the President‟s web-site, you might take a look at that. There does seem to be a
fairly healthy and positive exchange going on the Blog and you can participate in it without your
identity being revealed. There is a lot of information going on back and forth from DeCenzo‟s
office to anyone on the campus or in the community.
Sheehan said he has one order of business and will rely on Dan Lawless to assist as he runs through
this. Back in July the Senate approved a grade forgiveness policy, and it was approved contingent
upon the University putting in place a mechanism to identify when an “F” was given to a student
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for purposes of cheating or plagiarism. Grade forgiveness was not to be extended under those
circumstances to those particular courses. We had at that time some discussion of creating
something called an “XF” grade which is a modified “F” which is a way we would have in the
system of knowing an “F” occurred as a consequences academic misconduct. The policy that the
Senate approved had the following line in it, „a student may not exercise the repeat forgiveness
option for courses in which the student was assigned a grade as a result of academic misconduct.‟
Since then we have worked very, very hard over the past six months to try to identify a technologyenabled way by which we could actually establish an “FX” grade. I am discouraged, Sheehan said,
and disappointed to report to you that we do not in fact feel that we can make that happen driven by
technology at this point in time. We just don‟t see how we can get the proper controls put in place
in our student information system to have the “FX” and to have it record properly internally on the
system but not show in an odd way externally on the transcript as well. We are left with what
appears to be two options that we bring forward to you. We do believe that in a grade forgiveness
policy is in the best interest of our students. We do believe that we should try to implement that
policy in May of 2008. The two options that we bring to you (1) we ask that you reconsider
passing the grade forgiveness policy without the “FX” or without the caveat about academic
misconduct, and in turn we as administration would agree that next year, as we take up the student
code of conduct, that we would address a grade of “F” for academic misconduct. That would be
Option 1, and perhaps the cleanest option from the point of parliamentary procedures. All you
would be asked to do under this approach is to approve something you have already approved
excising a single sentence. The other option that we are looking at is building in our office, the
Office of Academic Affairs, a file on each student for whom there is some type of academic
misconduct action. We don‟t have that right now, and frankly if I‟m asked to audit an “F” grade or
if I‟m asked to write a justification for a grade, I go back to the instructor and ask for the grade
book that we then have all of the grades that have come in and we have an explanation of what
generated the final grade. It would seem that we should have in place some type of mechanism
when you have a disturbance, when a faculty member decides for example, and it works up through
the chain of command through your Department Chair and Dean, a student should not remain in
class. To the best of my knowledge, we don‟t have a way of recording that. Unless it goes to the
student misconduct panel, and is adjudicated over there in Student Affairs, there is no central
record kept when there is a conflict that rises to a certain level that we need to keep a record of.
The second suggestion that we have to make to you is not that you simply just pass the earlier
recommendation with a sentence excised, but that you either by motion of this body or by
assurance by myself as Provost understand that we will begin the process of trying to create a
student record file. Now this would be a manual file, this would be a file that would be checked
when a grade forgiveness request then comes in, we would go back to the student identification
number and we would see if there is anything in the file that leads us to believe that a student in this
particular case has received a failing grade because of academic misconduct. We would probably
put other things in that file too, and we would need to work with the appropriate offices on campus
to try to determine when something rises to the level, you would want to put some type of notation
in that student file. When you‟ve discussed with Student Affairs Office whether the files should be
maintained in Student Affairs, they say no. They think things that are truly an academic affairs that
pertain to the relationship between a faculty member and student, if you want to have it recorded,
should be maintained and managed by our office, and we are willing to do so. That‟s my request of
you, Sheehan said, and I‟m certainly open to any questions that you might have. My request at the
end of the day or the end of this semester is can we proceed with a grade forgiveness process as
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early as May 2008, recognizing that we have more work to do on trying to record failing grade as a
consequence of academic misconduct.
Subsequent discussion occurred regarding the applicable time-frame for the grade forgiveness
policy. Chair Evans asked that this discussion be continued under new business.
Provost Sheehan reported that in March a proposal for ROTC courses will be brought to Senate, it
will be presented to the Academic Affairs Committee in February. Those courses will be ROTC
101 & ROTC 102. Sheehan apologized for appearing to be out front in the newspaper with regards
to the establishment of the ROTC Program. We do know we want and need your approval on that.
We are attempting to get all the paperwork moving along here.
Finally, Sheehan said, a call has gone out to faculty for a couple of Associate Provost positions that
we will be attempting to fill, effective July 1, 2008. Sheehan said he invites your interest in those
positions should any of you have those career goals and aspirations.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Charmaine Tomczyk reported that the Faculty Manual Revision Ad-Hoc Committee is still meeting
weekly.
PENDING BUSINESS: None
NEW BUSINESS:
Holly Tankersley presented the following request from Academic Affairs.
A motion was made by Deb Walker, seconded by Paul Peterson to accept items 1 – 4 as
recommended by the College of Humanities. The motion passed.
1. Request for new undergraduate course: ENGL 205, Literature and Culture. (3)(Prereq: C in
English 101). Proposed Catalog description to read: This course is designed to provoke and
cultivate students‟ imaginative and critical understanding of literature in various cultural
contexts. Text (in poetry, drama, fiction, and/or creative nonfiction) will vary by section. Each
section will examine compelling themes, styles, and cultural arguments within their literary,
historical, and philosophical contexts. Justification: Additional 200-level lit course needed for
Goal 4.
2. Request for new undergraduate course: POLI 371, Public Policy. (3) Proposed Catalog
description to read: This course is an introduction to the nature of public policy in the U.S.
Topics include theories and models of policymaking, policy formation and implementation by
political institutions, and the formation of the policy agenda. A significant focus is placed on
the content and design of policy in selected areas, including health, education, welfare, criminal
justice, and environmental policy. Justification: The addition of this course is meant to
broaden the Politics curriculum by introducing students to the practical application of political
theory, institutions, and processes. Most political science majors who do not pursue the legal
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profession end up pursuing careers in public policy or public administration; this course
provides that background.
3. Request for new undergraduate course: POLI 372, Women and Public Policy. (3) Proposed
Catalog description to read: This course examines the expanding role of women in political
life. Students will study women as emerging political players in society, with a particular focus
on strategies for gaining political power, the evolution of public policies that affect the lives and
opportunities of women, and the present political status of women in the U.S.
4. Request for new undergraduate course: HIST 449, History of Western Medicine from
Antiquity to the Renaissance. Proposed Catalog description to read: This course examines the
development of rational medicine and its alternatives from classical Greece and the emergence
of the Hippocratic tradition (5th century BCE) through the Black Death (14th century CE).
Students will study the social and economic dynamics that support and fuel medico-scientific
development; will consider medical competition between educated scholars and unlettered
empirics; will evaluate the interactions between scientific medicine and religion, and between
medicine and economics. Justification: Expands upper-level course offerings to History
majors. Falls within the research expertise of Coastal faculty. Will provide science and
business majors with cognate credits outside their colleges. This course has been taught
successfully in the past as a Special Topics course.
A motion was made by Sandy Shackelford, seconded by A. J. Taylor to accept item 5 as
recommended by the College of Science. The motion passed.
5. Changes requested for an Undergraduate program: Biology Degree. A new capstone course,
BIOL 412 (3 credit hours) has been approved and will now be a Major Requirement in the
Biology degree. In addition, each “focus” of the Biology degree is now called a
“specialization” (approved by the CHE). (listed on page 4 & 5) Justification: BIOL 412,
Biology Capstone, will prepare students for their career, graduate work, or professional school
by emphasizing resume, job hunting, and interview skills, as well as reviewing test-taking
skills. In addition the course will integrate the biology topics the students have explored
throughout their degree.
A motion was made by Lee Bollinger, seconded by Jim Solazzo to accept item 6 as recommended
by the College of Science. The motion passed.
6. Changes requested for an Undergraduate program: Mathematics Minor. Request change in
number of credit hours from 25 TO 20, change in required courses from MATH 260, MATH
320, (MATH 331, 332, 344, 349, 446, 465, 474 (choose one), STAT 201/201L, Computer
Science programming course TO MATH 260 or MATH 320 (choose one), MATH 344,
Elective courses: Choose 2 (one must be 300 or higher). Proposed Catalog description appears
on Page 6. Justification: This change is to bring the minor up to date with recent course
changes and changes in the major.
Deborah Vrooman, presented the following items of business that were approved by the Graduate
Council by January 18, 2008
College of Business
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Add Prerequisites:
1. CBAD 631 – Fraud Examination (Pre-requisite: CBAD 630 – Financial and Managerial
Accounting)
2. CBAD 760 – Financial Management (Prerequisite: CBAD 630 - Financial Managerial
Accounting)
3. CBAD 798 – Research Project (Prerequisite: CBAD 691 – Applied Research Methods)
Rationale: These prerequisites help ensure adequate knowledge in preparation for the higher
level course work.
College of Humanities
1. ENGL 662 Teaching Multicultural Adolescent Literature (3) (Admission to the MAT
program) An exploration of the general issues of teaching literature to adolescents with a focus
on using literature from a variety of cultures in the classroom. Rationale: ENGL 662 helps to
prepare students who intend to teach high school English by familiarizing then with all aspects
of adolescent literature from a diversity of cultures and providing them with the tools they need
to address the needs of a diverse student population.
Evans said next up for discussion is the “FX” grade with our Grade Forgiveness Policy. After
some discussion, this was tabled until the March 5, 2008 Faculty Senate Meeting.
Dan Ennis, Chair, Department of English presented the following resolution and provided
background information concerning it. After much discussion, a motion was made by Shannon
Stewart, seconded by John Navin to withdrawn their original motion to accept. The motion to
withdraw passed.
WHEREAS Coastal Carolina University recently passed a mission statement that reaffirms
this institution’s “public comprehensive liberal arts” identity, and
WHEREAS that mission statement further declares that this institution maintains “a
tradition of a strong liberal arts core,” and
WHEREAS "the liberal arts," from antiquity to the present, have encompassed and
emphasized writing instruction as the center of a complete education, and
WHEREAS the current (aka “New”) Core Curriculum is constructed in such a way that a
student may graduate from Coastal Carolina University having taken only one course in
which writing instruction is the primary focus, and
WHEREAS we have entered an era in the history of American higher education when
students need more—not less—writing instruction, and
WHEREAS the administration of Coastal Carolina University has committed to supporting
and appropriately staffing additional writing instruction in the Core, therefore
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BE IT RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate urges the Academic Affairs Committee and the
Core Curriculum Committee to entertain, discuss and pass such proposals as will require
that all Coastal Carolina University undergraduates complete six hours of dedicated writing
instruction in the form of ENGL 101 and ENGL 102, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate urges the Administration to make
such arrangements that this action, if promptly taken, may be reflected in the 2008-2009
Coastal Carolina University Catalog.
GOOD OF THE ORDER: None
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 5:55 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Approved by David Evans
Faculty Senate Chair
Janet Straub
Faculty Senate Recorder
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