Minutes: Minutes of September 28, 1998 were approved as distributed.

Old Business: Implementation of Drop/Add Policies

The committee heard concerns expressed by Jay Thomas on behalf of the Graduate Council. With regard to the Add Policy they are concerned about possibly discouraging students from adding a class when instructor signature is required after the 2nd day of the quarter, rather than the 5th day of the quarter. With regard to the faculty initiated drop, they are concerned that the policy not be interpreted as forcing faculty to drop students based on attendance. 

The committee heard concerns expressed by Todd Brittingham from the Registrar's Office. With regard to the 2nd day Add policy, more students would need faculty signatures on add slips before adds could be processed. Students being newly admitted to the University during the first week of the quarter would have to get faculty signatures to add each course in their schedules. Senior citizens, who can only register for free after the first day of the quarter, would have a more limited time to register without obtaining faculty signatures on add slips. With regard to the faculty initiated drop option, there was concern about the increase in paper work and the possible confusion of paperwork crossing between drops and adds. How students would be notified that they had been dropped was also an issue. There was also the concern that students might come to expect that they would be automatically dropped from classes they did not attend and thus would not take responsibility for dropping themselves from classes.

Jennifer Penick from the Financial Aid office shared with the committee information about how her office works to comply with federal and state policies with regard to dispersing funds to students and checking on their enrollment status. Students who are dropped from classes might lose part of their funding, have funding recalled, or have to begin their loan paybacks if they are determined to be enrolled in fewer hours than they had originally registered.

The committee discussed the original intent of the changes to the drop/add policies and the appropriateness of being involved in the specifics of an implementation plan. The chair will draft a report to the Senate Executive Committee for review at the next meeting.

Environmental Health Sciences Minor: The committee will defer full review of the proposal pending clarifications requested of the EH department.

Placement in GE Mathematics Classes: A proposal from the College of Liberal Arts was distributed for review at the next meeting.