Khaled Dajani welcomed Anthony Heryla as the new SSCC undergraduate Twin Cities representative

[In these minutes: Reports, Resolution on Withdrawal Policy, Trip to Morris, Twin Cities Spring Social]

STUDENT SENATE CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE (SSCC) MINUTES

FEBRUARY 14, 2002

[These minutes reflect discussion and debate at a committee of the University of Minnesota Senate or Twin Cities Campus Assembly; none of the comments, conclusions, or actions reported in these minutes represent the views of, nor are they binding on, the Senate or Assembly, the Administration, or the Board of Regents.]

PRESENT: Khaled Dajani (chair), Trevor Ewanochko, Chris Frazier, Anthony Heryla, Shawn Lavelle, Kari Lindeman, Matt McBlair, Ryan Osero, Jason Stingl.

REGRETS: Judy Berning, Ryan Brux, Nick Cecconi.

GUESTS: Patrick Pederson.

Khaled Dajani welcomed Anthony Heryla as the new SSCC undergraduate Twin Cities representative.

1. REPORTS

SCSA
Jason Stingl reported that SCSA is working on a resolution on the proposed 13-credit minimum policy. The committee also heard a report on using credit cards to pay for tuition. Reasons for usage include air miles for credit card purchases and allowing students to take classes when they do not have the money right away to pay. Reasons against are high educational debt on top of other debts that students accumulate.

MSA
Khaled Dajani said that MSA recently passed four pieces of legislation on registration policies and late grades. Planning is also underway for MSA week.

GAPSA
Patrick Pederson said that graduate and professional student week will take place the last week in March with cake and ice cream being served on the mall. GAPSA is also working on a survey on housing and student governance that will be completed by the end of March. GAPSA and MSA are looking into an athletics and cultural events card. The question is which University departments are willing to participate in the offer. The fees process is also on-going.

MORRIS
Ryan Brux said that the Morris students are working to eliminate plagiarism software on campus. Three professors experimented with the software on classes fall semester without the knowledge of the class. MCSA is also working on connections with the community and placing a student representative on the Morris city council.

VICE CHAIR
Shawn Lavelle reported that the Student Legislative Coalition (SLC) recruited fewer students for Lobby Day this year. The new executive director is working hard for the organization. SLC’s total budget is $120,000 but only 10% of that can be spent on lobbying efforts because of the tax status. A full budget breakdown will be presented at the next SLC meeting in Duluth.

He has also been looking into Student Senate attendance longitudinally. He noted that attendance has not fluctuated much in the past ten years, with an average attendance of 30 students at each meeting.

CROOKSTON
Matt McBlair said that elections are starting for next year. CSA is also working to ensure that the Bede Hall renovation is funded.

DULUTH
Nick Cecconi stated that Greg Fox has been recruited to the Twin Cities to fill in for the departed Eric Kruse on an interim basis. UMDSA is working on an electronic ballot for voting this year.

STUDENT SENATE CHAIR
Chris Frazier reported that she and Shawn Lavelle met with the Provost at Rochester over the break. The Rochester campus has 362 students, of which 85% are graduate students, and all register through the Twin Cities campus. She has informed GAPSA and MSA that they should be in touch with this branch of their constituency so that the students can get involved. The Provost would like the campus to expand and have more students, but at this time the University only funds the campus with $500,000 per year.

She has also organized a group called the University Student Leaders Forum (USLF) which is composed of the five student body presidents, the Student Senate Vice Chair, and the Student Senate Chair. The purpose is to increase communication and representation between the campuses.

The Student Advisory Council (SAC) has been working to prevent cuts to HESO, Minitex, and MnLink. HESO is also working on changing the way student need for state grants. Instead of tabulating averages by institution, HESO will begin calculating expenses individually per student, which might mean more problems in the fall if HESO receives major cuts from the state.

SSCC CHAIR
Khaled Dajani said a joint subcommittee has been formed to look at faculty and student evaluations of teaching. Currently the default option is for student evaluations to not be submitted, which leads to few responses being received. Trevor Ewanochko is one of the students on the committee and Darwin Hendel is the chair.

Matt McBlair said that there have been some problems at Crookston with students complaining about not understanding the speech of their professors. The committee then discussed developing a survey that would not be used in post-tenure reviews and checking on what other schools do.

The committee then discussed tuition banding in conjunction with a 13 credit minimum. The proposal would charge students more for less than 13 credits but then not charge any additional amount for 13 or more credits. Members expressed the opinion that free credits encourages on-time graduation, it seems odd to charge per credit, and students should not be punished for taking less than 13 credits. Coordinate campus input is also needed in this area.

2. DISCUSSION OF RESOLUTION ON WITHDRAWAL POLICIES

Chris Frazier said that SCEP received a report on low graduation rates and a suggestion to limit the number of withdrawals. Now students can withdraw up to the eighth week and the proposal shifts it to the third week. The proposal would also require signatures from the professor and the student’s advisor as a way to increase communication and to encourage students to stay in classes. The third piece of the proposal would limit a student to three withdrawals from individual classes. Students could still withdraw from a semester of classes if the need arose. SCEP will vote on the proposal next week.

Committee members made the following comments: