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The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Faculty Assembly Minutes
October 24, 2007

Attending: Paula Amad; Mark Andrejevic; David Bennett; George de la Pena; Jill Beckman; Frauke Bleher, Cinzia Blum; Adi Hastings; Christopher Cheatum; Jeff Cox; David Cunning; Anny Curtius; Warren Darling; Douglas Dion; Jennifer Glanville; Lenore Holte; Adrienne Hurley; Paula Kempchinsky; Amnon Kohen; Réne Lecuona; Russell Lenth; Katina Lillios; Waltrud Maierhofer; Beth Pelton; Barbara Mooney; David Peate; Craig Pryor; Jim Pusack; David Redlawsk; J. Ringen; Dennis Roseman; Jeanne Saunders; Morton Schlütter; Alvin Snider; Sujatha Sosale; Glenn Storey; Steven Varga

Guests: Linda Maxson, Dean of the College; Helena Dettmer, Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Services; Tom Rocklin, Vice Provost and Dean of the University College; Mr. Brad Alison, Crime Prevention Specialist, Public Safety; Ms. Monique DiCarlo, Director, Women's Resource and Action Center; Professor Rex Honey, Educational Policy Committee

Absent (Excused): Jeffrey Denberg; Richard Hurtig; Joni Kinsey; John Menninger; Suely Oliveira;

Absent: David Arkush; Art Borreca; Glenn Ehrstine; Eric Gidal; Loren Glass; Andrew Hollingworth; Patricia Kelley; Meena Khandelwal, Jae-On Kim; John Kimmich; Philip Klein; Carl Orgren; David Stewart; Ramaswamy Subramanian; Nick Yablon; Vershawn Young; Yuzhe Zhang

1. Minutes of September 19, 2007. The minutes were approved as distributed.

2. Brief Messages and Announcements . Chair Pusack invited Dean Maxson, Associate Dean Dettmer, and the assembly members to contribute any brief messages or announcements of interest to the group. Dean Maxson, noting that the Faculty Senate had discussed the upcoming referendum on Iowa City liquor laws, encouraged the Assembly to have some discussion of this topic as well. Chair Pusack used this time to encourage Assembly members to participate on two of the Assembly’s current committees. The standing committee on Diversity is seeking members as is an ad hoc committee on the naming of programs and buildings. Member Russell Lenth volunteered for the naming committee. Chair Pusack asked other volunteers to contact him or member Dennis Roseman, who has agreed to chair both of these committees.

3. Discussion with Tom Rocklin, Vice Provost and Dean of University College. Vice Provost Rocklin began the discussion by thanking the Assembly for the invitation to meet with them. His first topic was an initiative by the Provost’s Office to increase the number of classes meeting on Fridays. He explained that this is one of the efforts being made to address a culture of alcohol consumption that many see as deleterious to the University and to individual students. He said that studies indicate that students who take classes meeting on Friday tend to drink less on Thursdays. He also noted that over time, class scheduling has tilted away from Friday classes; there are only about 1400 classes with meetings on Friday, while there are more than 2,400 classes with meetings Monday through Thursday. In considering how to have the most positive effect, the Provost’s Office is suggesting the movement of courses that have a) large undergraduate enrollments – especially of first-year students; b) mandatory attendance policies or incentives for attendance (for example, weekly quizzes); and c) are already meeting on MW or MTWTH, which could be adjusted easily.

A number of such courses have been identified, including the “College Transition” course that is housed in University College. There are many sections of the course, and it is taken by entering students. More Friday sections will be scheduled of this course in the Fall. Vice Provost Rocklin has asked Associate Dean Dettmer to work with other units, including Rhetoric, Mathematics, and departments offering language instruction, to identify other courses whose classes could be moved to Fridays.

J. Beckman (Linguistics) asked whether this move would simply make Monday the new Friday, and Sunday the new Thursday. She also asked about research on mandatory attendance and similar practices. Vice Provost Rocklin responded that it appears that other societal/cultural forces will keep Sunday night from becoming like what Thursday night is currently, and indicated that research has shown there are positive aspects to adding mandatory attendance and Friday quizzes, etc.

P. Kempchinsky (Spanish & Portuguese) noted that many faculty members have good reasons to teach on a M-W schedule. Vice Provost Rocklin agreed and said that no faculty member will be forced to teach on Fridays.

Another member noted that there could be some dangers for departments that participate in this experiment. Students might avoid courses with Friday classes, leading to lower enrollments and perhaps a reduction in teaching-assistant allocations. Vice Provost Rocklin said that with careful choice of what courses to move, this should not be a problem. He said the College of Business is considering moving some courses which are currently experiencing high demand to a schedule that includes a Friday meeting. He also spoke to the circularity behind the development of the current culture – faculty members respond to the lack of enrollment on Fridays by scheduling fewer courses that meet on Fridays and students then perceive that avoiding Friday courses is acceptable. Changing such a culture will take time.

He then moved to the second part of his presentation, a discussion of what, for the time being, is called “the message project.” He explained that while research shows that retention and other markers of student success are higher at institutions with a universally understood “message,” the RISE report [Research on Iowa Student Experiences (RISE) conducted during the 2005-06 academic year – see http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2007/march/032107student-survey.html ] indicated that UI students have only a single shared “message” about the University: “It’s great to be a Hawkeye.” The “Student Success Team” [described in the Faculty Assembly’s agenda, see http://www.clas.uiowa.edu//faculty/governance/fa/materials/2007_10_item3.shtml ] decided to try to develop a message for the University. In July, Vice Provost Rocklin sent out an email survey to all 46,000 names with “uiowa.edu” email accounts, asking for ideas. There were 2,400 responses which have been analyzed by a team of graduate students.

Five key concepts emerged (in addition to the “it’s great to be a Hawkeye” idea). These became the foundation of the first draft, written in an exhortatory voice (“You”) to directly involve students. The draft is now being taken to various venues and discussion/comment is being encouraged. When the message is complete, it will become part of the University’s many interactions with students – at Orientation, in Academic Advising, in the Residence Halls, and, he hopes, in classrooms.

D. Roseman (Mathematics) asked how common such messages are, do our peer institutions have them? Vice Provost Rocklin responded that while our direct peers do not have specific projects like this one, at least two nearby schools ( Kansas and Michigan) do have a strong culture of a shared message, that is articulated by both students and faculty.

R. Lecuona ( School of Music) said this seemed like a great idea, and suggested that one aspect of the message should be “we study hard.” J. Cox (History) encouraged the Student Success Team to think about not using “Academic Excellence” (a phrase in the draft), which is a common cliché in higher education materials. Instead, he suggested using in some way the word “learning” which he considers closer to the mission of the University. C. Cheatum (Chemistry) encouraged the inclusion of a phrase that could become a kind of trademark or tagline, noting that at Wisconsin, “sifting and winnowing” is a phrase that is closely identified with the work of both students and faculty. Another member recalled that at Notre Dame, there is an emphasis on “family,” a word with powerful connotations. And yet another member spoke of the need to remind students to expect to expand and enlarge their understandings.

The time for this discussion had come to an end, so Vice Provost Rocklin thanked the Assembly for its time and asked them to send him more ideas via email. He also said he would welcome additional invitations to meet with the Assembly.

4. Discussion of safe campus issues and violence on campus with Mr. Brad Allison, Crime Prevention Specialist, and Ms. Monique DiCarlo, Director, Women's Resource and Action Center. Chair Pusack then introduced Mr. Brad Allison, Crime Prevention Specialist in the Department of Public Safety, and Ms. Monique DiCarlo, Director, Women’s Resource and Action Center for a discussion of campus safety issues and violence on campus.

Mr. Allison began the discussion by noting that in fact, more non-students than students are arrested by Public Safety officers on campus. But, he also explained that in the last few years the officers have seen increases not only in the number of incidents, especially those exacerbated by alcohol, but in the scale of the events. Foot chases, for example, used to be rare, now they are common. He described a number of disturbing situations in which the public safety officers must intervene.

K. Lillios (Anthropology) asked whether there are any effective programs to combat excessive drinking by college students. Mr. Allison said that the University kept in close contact with peers elsewhere and adopted policies that seemed most promising. Currently, every entering student is required to take an on-line course which seems to be having some positive effects. He also works closely with the Residence Hall staff, who do informational programs with students. He would like to have more access to large groups of students in a formal, structured, way, perhaps as early as Orientation.

J. Cox (History) asked whether Public Safety was taking a position on the alcohol ordinance referendum. Mr. Allison said, no, there was no departmental recommendation. He did speak a bit about one topic that is often brought up in discussions of the ordinance. He suggested that while there would probably be an increase in house parties, few houses are as large as the most troublesome-prone of the bars, and it would be difficult for students to amass the amount of liquor available in the bars.

Ms. DiCarlo then spoke of broad- based campus and community efforts to address the issues of dating violence, stalking, and sexual assault. She said that a number of grants have been obtained that have enabled the University to offer programs in all of the Residence Halls and add a segment on dating violence, stalking, and sexual assault to the on-line course alcohol.edu that Mr. Allison had mentioned. She noted that training was being made available to various staff members who have contact with students and that special programs for international students are available. She also spoke of efforts to involve undergraduate men in programs that would help them become opinion leaders who could work against the “bystander culture” that exists. Such efforts do not accuse men, instead, they recognize the role men can play in changing a current culture that subtly supports dating violence, stalking, and sexual assaults. In response to an Assembly member’s question she said, no, there was not a formal or required information session on safety for students at Orientation, but information is available and distributed at the time of Orientation.

The time allotted for this discussion was at an end, so Chair Pusack thanked the guests. The guests invited members to contact them for additional discussion at any time.

5. Discussion of the Educational Policy Committee’s proposals for Pandemic and Disaster Policies. The Assembly then turned to a motion from the EPC on Pandemic and Disaster Policies for the College. Chair Pusack asked the Assembly to first discuss the proposed Pandemic Policy. The policy assumes that in the event of a pandemic situation, the University would not complete the semester. If the shutdown occurred during the first 10 week of the semester, the semester would simply be voided, all courses would be removed from a student’s transcript. If the pandemic occurred after the first 10 weeks of the semester, then instructors would award the grades earned by that time. “Incompletes” would not be considered, and the University would hope to o pen at a later time at the beginning of another semester.

C. Cheatum (Chemistry) and A. Kohen (Chemistry) expressed great doubts about the proposal. A. Kohen said that it is not advisable for students to be graded on only part of a semester’s work; they would not be ready to take the next course in the sequence after only 10 weeks of class. Professor Rex Honey, speaking for the EPC, said that this argument had been made in the EPC’s discussions, but that the committee determined that it would probably be possible for the instructors of the next course to adapt materials. In some cases, “bridge courses” might be required. Professor Honey noted that in the case of a pandemic, the entire culture would be affected, all educational institutions would be facing similar challenges, and making similar accommodations. He noted, too, that there would not be time or resources available to permit some departments/instructors to choose “incomplete” for their courses while others give grades and complete the semester.

Professor Cheatum said that while he understood the argument for simplicity, it would be equally simple to not make a distinction between before and after 10 weeks of classes, but cancel the entire semester in either case. That might even be preferable to the EPC proposal. He also noted that there will be cases in which, say, students are being graded solely on their class presentation. If some students have given a presentation and some have not, how could he “grade” those that had not yet given their presentation?

Chair Pusack asked for additional discussion, and hearing none, asked for a voice vote on the proposal. The proposal passed, with some votes against.

6. Adjournment. The time for adjournment was at hand, so the Chair asked for a proposal to table discussion of the disaster policy until the November meeting. That was done, and then the Assembly adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,
Cinzia Blum
Secretary, 2007-2008