College of
Arts and Sciences
Educational
Policy Meeting
Minutes of the 389th Meeting
October 17, 2002
MEMBERS.
PRESENT:� Ann Marie Barry, Joe Burns, Michael Connolly, Clare Dunsford, Solomon Friedberg, Carlos Jaramillo, Kevin Harrison (for Alan Kafka), Michael Malec, Thomas McGuinness, Michael Martin, Gilda Morelli, Robert Murphy, Clare O'Connor, Mary Daniel O'Keeffe, O.P., Jennie Purnell, Joseph Quinn, Grace Simmons, Eileen Sweeney, Gabe Verdaguer, Barbara Viechnicki, Derek Williams.�
ABSENT: Andrea Defusco-Sullivan,
CALL TO ORDER: Dean
Quinn called the meeting to order at
MINUTES: Dean
Quinn asked if there were any corrections for the minutes of the 388th
meeting held on
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS: Dean Quinn passed out the draft listing of committee assignments. Suggesting that balancing the committees would help balance the workload, he asked that anyone willing to move from Academic Affairs to the Honors Subcommittee please let him know.�
SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS:
Dean Quinn asked the outgoing or continuing committee chairs to describe their committee's activities for the last year and present any outstanding business.
ACADEMIC AFFAIRS:
Biology B.A.: Ann Marie Barry described the proposal for a B.A. in Biology, revised with Bill Petri, Assistant Chairperson of Biology, which the committee recommended passing. The proposal was passed.�
Computer Science B.S.: Barry described the revised proposal for a B.S. in Computer Science, stating that there had been questions, noted in the previous minutes, concerning electives, co-requisites and accreditation. The EPC had approved subject to the Dean's working out a few details.�
Dean Quinn asked if anyone knew of new proposals likely to be presented to the EPC this year. Joe Burns stated that there might be a proposal for a Perspectives Program major coming from Joe Flanagan in Philosophy.�
HONORS:�
Scholar of the College: Bob Murphy presented new Guidelines for the Scholar of the College program, held over from last spring, which the EPC approved.
Grade Inflation: Murphy stated that the subcommittee had discussed the issue of grade inflation and asked if it might be worthwhile to list on student transcripts both the grade received for each course and the average grade given in that course.�
Departmental Honors: Murphy offered a description of Suggested Elements for Departmental Honors Programs noting that these allowed departments to set appropriate standards and procedures. He noted the new A&S Honors web page which would soon have links to the individual department�s web pages. He also suggested gathering updated information concerning these programs.
Independent Major: Murphy offered a description of the interdisciplinary Independent Major noting the rise in the GPA requirement and the establishing of EPC oversight. One member stated there should be a standard application template for applying.� The Dean noted that since International Studies had become a freestanding program, the interdisciplinary Independent Majors could now be fewer and more specialized.
APPEALS:
Guidelines: Joe Burns stated there had been two cases last year, noted that there was no established process for such appeals, and, on the behalf of Mark Gelfand, offered new Guidelines for Appealing a Course Grade.
�A member noted the document stated that only the instructor could change a grade while it made the Dean of the College the court of last appeal. Joe Burns stated that while only a faculty member could change a grade, the Committee can recommend that the Dean retroactively change the registration status to Pass/Fail. The Dean noted that, in theory, a faculty member might be acting outrageously and this procedure could address that problem. A member asked if the faculty member could alter the registration status. Burns stated that neither the faculty member nor the student could recommend that action. Another member asked if these options were listed anywhere. An Associate Dean stated that the practice was to discuss the likely outcomes with the student.
One member noted
that old guidelines provided for Associate Deans' input informally and noted
that the important change was in requiring documentation. Ann Marie Barry asked if the students
ever saw these guidelines. An Associate Dean stated they saw them only when they inquired about initiating an
appeal. A member asked which dean had jurisdiction when a student from one
college was appealing a grade in a course offered in another college.� The Dean stated such an appeal goes to the
college offering the course. Two members asked whether this procedure covered a
disagreement over the quality of a piece of work. The Dean stated such a
disagreement was not ordinarily grounds for an appeal.
The Dean suggested that everyone read the document closely and send their questions to Joe Burns.
BUSINESS FOR THE CURRENT YEAR.
Dean Quinn suggested that the Academic Affairs subcommittee might handle several items including proposals for
� a new Perspectives Honors Program,
� a B.S. in Mathematics,
� and a review of departmental minors.
He stated that the Honors subcommittee would be continuing or finishing work on
� Departmental Honors Programs
� and Independent Majors.
He also stated that Honors subcommittee might undertake a major review of the Advance Placement Credits system.
Sr. Mary Daniel O'Keeffe described the current situation noting that students' arriving with 12-15 credits had become common and she had seen students with as many as 33-36 AP credits.� She noted that 18 credits allowed students to graduate in three years. She also stated that it was time to review the AP scores required for BC credit noting several instances when Core courses could be by-passed including
� English exam scores of either 4 and higher or 3 and 3, depending on when the student took the exams, allowed by-passing the Writing Core;
� Math scores of 4 or 5 allowed by-passing the Calculus Core;
� Natural Science scores of 4 or 5 allowed by-passing both Core course requirements;
� and scores of �4 or 5 in classics or 3 in Romance Language allowed a student to fulfil the A&S Language Proficiency requirement.
The Dean noted that the required scores for BC credit varied widely, even in the languages.� One member stated that a score of 3 to fulfill a language proficiency requirement seemed embarrassingly low. Another noted that an SAT II score of 500 also fulfilled the requirement and seemed equally unsatisfactory. Another member added that given the Jesuit tradition of education and the language needs of a our global culture, such a low requirement seemed unacceptable.� He also asked how many additional students would need language classes if the required scores were raised.
The Dean, noting that the matter had resource consequences that the EPC could not solve, asked if this was an A&S or a university issue and if the best course would be to have the departments make recommendations to the AVP. An Associate Dean noted that Mary French, in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, wanted the scores required for credit raised since low score requirements actually discouraged good students from coming to B.C. Two student members insisted raising these scores would not discourage the best applicants.
In the interest of time, the Dean deferred discussion of what the EPC might do on the matter of grade inflation until the next meeting and then offered his slate for the EPC's Executive Committee including the chairs of the three standing subcommittees
� Solomon Friedberg, Academic Affairs,
� Bob Murphy, Honors,
� Alan Kafka, Appeals,
and Michael Martin who had agreed to serve as Secretary for the EPC.
ADJOURNMENT: �Dean Quinn thanked everyone and called for
adjournment at
Respectfully submitted by
Michael C. Martin
Secretary to the EPC