EDUCATIONAL POLICY COMMITTEE


Minutes of the Meeting of October 17, 1997
Call to Order            Silver brought the third meeting of the academic year   
                         to order at 9something a.m. in ET 206, following        
                         relocation because of a bomb threat in the              
                         Extinguished Alumni Room. Other members present:        
                         Argast, De Fonso, English, Hollander, Tierney, and      
                         Wright-Bower; member absent: P. Lane. Guests present:   
                         B. Groff and M. O'Hear.                                 

Refreshments             Silver provided birthday sweets.                        

Approval of Minutes      The minutes of the meeting of 10/3/97 were approved     
                         after Hollander noted that M. Stockstill had been       
                         added to the list of recipients.                        

Chair's Business         Silver brought 4 thingies to the Committee's            
                         attention:                                              

Out-of-Block Scheduling  A Steffy e-mail of 10/15/97, requesting permission to   
for Summer I EDUC        begin Summer I EDUC graduate courses at 4:30 and 7:00   
Graduate Courses         p.m. instead of at approved block times gained          
                         apparently unanimous approval. The Committee            
                         recommended to the VCAA that he authorize this          
                         deviation.                                              

Abandonment of Guided    A Bruening e-mail suggestion that the Guided Studies    
Studies Program          program be abandoned in favor of admitting its          
                         students directly into academic units was added to the  
                         list of Pendulous Items.                                

Campuswide Acceptance    An English suggestion that credit for satisfactory      
of CLEP Credit           performance on CLEP tests be awarded in all subjects    
                         was added to the list of Pendulous Items.               

Committee Report on      The Blauvelt/Hollander request for a report to the      
"Documents under         Senate on "Documents under Deliberation" elicited the   
Deliberation"            suggestion that the list of Pendulous Items form the    
                         basis of the Committee's report.                        

English as a Second      An Era of Good Feeling commenced as the 2 guests        
Language                 presented their views on proposed changes to policies   
                         and procedures governing the admission, testing, and    
                         placement of students for whom English is a second      
                         language. The controversy appeared to have been         
                         reduced to the following issues:                        
                         Whether to decouple the question of admission to an     
                         academic unit from the question of TOEFL scores         
                         mandating participation in the ESL program              
                         Whether the TOEFL score necessary for admission to an   
                         academic unit (rather than to Transitional Studies)     
                         should be 550 rather than 575                           
                         Whether to authorize a one-school pilot program to      
                         test possible amendments to the academic regulations    
                         before widespread implementation                        
                         Whether to amend the academic regulations immediately   
                         in ways that appear to be universally acceptable.       
                         The Committee decided with apparent unanimity to        
                         continue this discussion at the start of its next       
                         meeting, and to reinvite the guests to react to         
                         Committee proposals at 9:45 on Oct. 31.                 

Adjournment              Adjournment occurred at 10:37 a.m.-prior, alas, to any  
                         member's or guest's being importuned to supply          
                         refreshments for the next meeting.                      

Pendulous Items


Distribution: Members

B. Blauvelt
B. Bruening
B. Groff
M. O'Hear
[G.] A. Pugh
B. Steffy


Minutes of the Meeting of October 3, 1997
Call to Order            The second meeting of the academic year came to order   
                         at 9 a.m. in KT 101, the Extinguished Alumni Room.      
                         Members present: Argast, De Fonso, English, Hollander,  
                         Silver, Tierney, and Wright-Bower; member absent: P.    
                         Lane.                                                   

Refreshments, Part 1     Hollander provided challah for Rosh Hashanah.           

Approval of Minutes      The minutes of the meeting of 9/15/97 were approved as  
                         distributed.                                            

Chair's Business         Silver reviewed 2 actions he'd taken at the             
                         Committee's request:                                    

Continuing Education     The Continuing Education Subcommittee has been asked    
Subcommittee             whether policies governing continuing-education         
                         offerings are being followed and whether they should    
                         be updated. English announced he had met with CE        
                         Director Stockstill and Vice Chancellor Branson about   
                         these concerns, and that Stockstill has subsequently    
                         met with Fine and Performing Arts Dean Christy, who     
                         has agreed to adhere to the policies.                   

Distance Education       The Distance Education Subcommittee has been asked to   
Subcommittee             respond to the Committee's concerns.                    

English as a Second      At considerable length, the Committee reviewed the      
Language                 continuing debate over admission, testing, and          
                         placement policies and procedures for students for      
                         whom English is a second language, and reviewed         
                         relevant documents submitted by O'Hear and Kendall.     
                         The Committee decided to invite O'Hear and Pugh to the  
                         next meeting in an attempt to effect a resolution,      
                         including, perhaps, amendments to the academic          
                         regulations.                                            

Academic Advising        The Committee discussed the charge and composition of   
                         the Academic Advising Subcommittee, proposed last year  
                         in Senate Document SD 9615. English promised to         
                         distribute a draft bylaws amendment defining the        
                         proposed subcommittee's charge and composition [,       
                         which he has subsequently done].                        

FERPA                    Hollander noted that last year's discussion of          
                         compliance with the Family Educational Rights and       
                         Privacy Act (FERPA) had not yet resulted in the         
                         promised changes in SIS, the associated appendix to     
                         the academic regulations, or the Schedule of Classes.   
                         Further consideration of this subject was deferred in   
                         the absence of the registrar.                           

Refreshments, Part 2     Silver unwisely admitted that the next Committee        
                         meeting is scheduled for his birthday. The Committee    
                         prevailed upon him to mark the occasion with exquisite  
                         refreshments.                                           

Authorization for        The Committee discussed the notion of requiring         
Assignment of            department chairs' approval for the assignment of       
Incompletes              Incompletes. Various alternatives, including the        
                         development of procedures for enforcing the current     
                         policies, were examined; no resolution was              
                         forthcoming.                                            

Adjournment              Adjournment occurred at 10:18 a.m.                      


Minutes of the Meeting of September 15, 1997
Call to Order            The first meeting of the academic year came to order    
                         at noon in KT 140. Members present: Argast, De Fonso,   
                         English, Hollander, P. Lane, Silver, Tierney, and       
                         Wright-Bower; nobody absent!                            

Refreshments!            First-in-the-alphabet and convener Argast provided      
                         light refreshments.                                     

Election of Chair, Etc.  Silver was elected chair, and Hollander, secretary.     

Meeting Days/Times       After considerable consultation of members' bizarre     
                         schedules, the Committee agreed to meet on alternate    
                         Fridays at 9 a.m., starting October 3. The chair will   
                         reserve an appropriately lavish room.                   

Review of Pendulous      The Committee compiled a list of business items known   
Items                    to pend:                                                

Subcommittee Oversight   The chair agreed to solicit minutes of the Committee's  
                         numerous subcommittees and to bring to the Committee's  
                         attention items of likely interest.                     

English-as-a-Second      Copies of ISL-related materials prepared for the        
Language Students        Committee by O'Hear were distributed; the chair agreed  
                         to duplicate and distribute copies of materials         
                         prepared for the Committee by Kendall.                  

Sponsorship of           In light of evidence that Senate policies governing     
Continuing-Education     sponsorship of continuing-education programs may not    
Programs                 reflect current practice, the chair agreed to request   
                         that the Continuing Education Subcommittee review       
                         these policies.                                         

Distance-Education       Members became aware of certain problems associated     
Problems                 with televised courses, focusing on (1) an apparent     
                         policy vacuum governing the scheduling and offering of  
                         courses sponsored by other campuses, (2) the            
                         scheduling of IPFW television studios, (3) the          
                         collection of course fees, (4) the awarding of degrees  
                         to students in distance-education programs, and (5)     
                         the apparent limiting of videotape-based enrollments    
                         to 5 per course solely because of inadequate capacity   
                         to copy videotapes. The chair agreed to request that    
                         the Distance Education Subcommittee undertake a study   
                         of these concerns.                                      

Semester Honors for      The registrar agreed to collect data which will assist  
Students with            the Committee in determining whether students with      
Incompletes              incompletes should be permitted to receive semester     
                         honors and, if not, whether such honors can be          
                         conferred retroactively, where appropriate, upon        
                         removal of the incompletes.                             

Other                    Members noted that the Purdue registrar continues to    
Incomplete-Related       apply "system" rules about incompletes-in some cases    
Concerns                 allowing IPFW students more time than is permitted      
                         under IPFW academic regulations and in some cases,      
                         less. In addition, members noted that incompletes are   
                         not being changed by the IPFW registrar upon their      
                         expiration, as required by IPFW academic regulations.   
                         The registrar agreed to study these concerns and        
                         report back.                                            
                         One member restated his interest, carried over from     
                         the previous year, in having the Committee discuss      
                         whether the department chair's (or equivalent's)        
                         approval should be required for the "award" of          
                         incompletes.                                            

IPFW/ITSC Articulation   The Committee discussed 2 matters related to IPFW       
                         articulation with Ivy Tech State College: (1) the need  
                         for a mechanism for faculty to participate in the       
                         ongoing maintenance of such agreements, and (2) the     
                         need to enable students and the IPFW admissions staff   
                         to distinguish between courses transferable from any    
                         ITSC site and courses transferable only from ITSC Fort  
                         Wayne as a result of special, local arrangements.       

Adjournment              Adjournment occurred at 12:49 p.m.                      


Pendulous Items

Distribution: Members
B. Blauvelt
R. Kendall
M. O'Hear


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