Academic Regulations Committee

Attending: Laurie Holst, Kreg Lindberg, Mark Meyers, Jeff Walker, Rebecca Mathern, Joanne Sorte

ACTION TAKEN:
Suggestion for recognition of military service and veterans

UNDER CONTINUED REVIEW
None
DEFERRED FOR LATER
Carried forward to 2014 (2015) - Concurrent Double Major, within 180 credits, and from two colleges discussion

TOPICS FOR NEXT MEETING: Next meeting date April 11, 10:30
Carried forward to April: General review of the Academic Regulations

DISCUSSION SUMMARY
1. Proposal for recognition of military service and veterans. Should OSU create a system to recognize at commencement those in military service or who are veterans?

• The membership discussed the proposal as it relates to the responsibilities of the ARC. The consensus confirmed that the proposal to award honors or distinctions for purposes that are not based on academic performance is not consistent with the Academic Regulations.
• It was confirmed that the ARC was asked by the Faculty Senate president to weigh-in on this question, and that we will do so through the format of presenting the considerations and offering suggestions, but not outlining all of the details. The suggestions are as follows:
• The ARC agrees with the idea of formally creating the opportunity for a recognition cord to be supplied to veterans and those in military service.
• It appears the office of Veterans Affairs is the appropriate group to assign eligibility and manage the distribution of the recognition cords.
• This opportunity could be included in the OSU General Catalog in the section, “Important Graduation Information” for example as follows:

Recognition of Military Service
Oregon State University recognizes the significant contribution and sacrifices made by OSU students, faculty, and staff who are military service members and veterans. Students, faculty, and staff may receive a red, white, and blue Military Service Recognition Cord to be worn at commencement.

To apply for the recognition, students faculty, and staff should complete the OSU Military Service Recognition application which is available on the OSU Veterans website (http://oregonstate.edu/veterans/home/). Applications are submitted to the Veterans Resource Coordinator who will approve the application and distribute the recognition cord.

2. Double Major discussion: Does OSU want to allow Double Majors, within 180 credit hours, and from different colleges?

• Joanne and Rebecca attended the Curriculum Council meeting on February 15th to discuss the concept of allowing the attainment of concurrent majors, Double Majors, within the 180 hour undergraduate program and from two colleges.
• The brief discussion revealed a range of thoughts from concern about the academic rigor of majors that can be completed concurrently within 180 credit hours, to, interest in providing students the opportunity to attain two majors if they are able to do so (this thought leaning toward empowering students to “construct” a rich undergraduate experience).
• The significant disruption to the current MyDegrees system was identified. Without making huge changes in the MyDegrees system, waivers must be managed by hand which could become cumbersome if there is a large volume.
• The Curriculum Council recommended that the Registrar’s office track waiver requests over the next 16 months to gather information about the frequency of requests and to discover which majors are most often represented.
• Rebecca shared with the ARC her concern about addressing equity in this matter. For example, some departments/colleges allow double dipping while others don’t – which would impact a student’s ability to obtain concurrent majors.
• Jeff noted that if the recent college rearrangements and splitting of programs has changed the opportunity for students who previously were able to double major within one college, then the double major within 180 credits should be honored even though the current arrangement may have placed the majors in different colleges.
• There was consensus in encouraging the Registrar to approve waivers during the next 16 month tracking period, and as suggested by Rebecca, to look into the student transcript to identify if over-rides or other waivers have assisted a student to skim through to complete two majors. We agreed we did not want to encourage situations where students “worked” the system in the pursuit of two majors within the 180 credits for graduation.

3. Academic Regulations consistency review. Joanne will invite Ric DeBellis to attend the April 11th ARC meeting to discuss his scanning of the AR’s and inconsistencies he has discovered.

4. Presentation to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee. Joanne will meet with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee on Thursday March 21 to share the ARC action on AR 12, AR 25.f, and present the suggestions related to the military service recognition cord.