Joint Senate Conference Committee

1995-96 Annual Report

Submitted 5/7/96 by Joel B. Piperberg, Chair

95-96 Members	Department	Term expires
J. Piperberg, Chair President, Pro Tempore Faculty Senate	Biology	1997
J. Lynch	Developmental Studies	1997
W. Dorman, COMM	Fac. Senate	1997
F. Erickson, EDFND	Fac. Senate	1997
Sue Wong	Student
Arthur Stretzenberg	Student
Jon Dale	Student
J. Stager	Associate Vice President, Academic Affairs (ex-officio)
A. Hoffman	Dean, Science & Mathematics (ex-officio)

Meetings:
3 meetings during the academic year (March 13, April 10, & May 1, 1996). No formal minutes were taken at any of the meetings. Average attendance was 5 members.

Motions/Recommendations Forwarded to Senate:
5/7/96
Recommendation as to the number of student members and alternates that should serve on each Faculty Senate committee (proposal appended).

Other Deliberations and Actions:
In addition to discussions on the number of student members/alternates on Faculty Senate committees, the Committee has discussed other issues. First, we discussed briefly Academic Appeals Boards used at other institutions and the procedures involved in academic grievances of students who believe that their grades have not been considered carefully. It was the prevailing opinion of members of the committee that the existing mechanisms at MU to deal with such problems are adequate to the task and that no changes in the system are necessary at present.

Provost McNairy (letter appended at the end of this report) has requested that the Committee, along with two members of the dean's Council (J. Stager and A. Hoffman), prepare an official statement regarding the University's ability to enable students to graduate with a baccalaureate degree within a four-year period. Our activities on these questions will involve the collection of relevant data and discussion of the requirements and issues that influence the abilities of our students to graduate within four years. We are also looking at the elements of agreements/contracts made between students at other universities and those universities, e.g. Iowa State, that establish a four-year tuition maximum. As long as these students adhere to certain rules, they will not have to pay tuition for more than four year. If obtaining his/her degree takes longer than four years, the student does not pay tuition for courses required to finish his/her degree program. We will meet every other week during the Fall 1996 semester and plan to submit a report summarizing our findings, suggestions and recommendations by December 1, 1996.

Matters currently in committee:
Discussions of the Four-Year Degree Commitment and preparation of the statement (see above) will continue through the Fall 1996 semester (see above). The report will be submitted by December 1, 1996.

Future Plans:
No plans other than those already mentioned.

Additional Information Comments:
None

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