Faculty Senate Minutes 1995

Attachment E

Faculty Senate Minutes

4 April 1995

Proposal for New Standing Committee of the Faculty Senate: Admissions, Advisement and Student Affairs

Submitted to Chairperson D. Eidam and the Faculty Senate

By The Senate Ad Hoc Policies Review Committee (Senators Brooks, Dorman, McCade, and Schneller, Chair).

Rationale and Need

The Admissions, Advisement and Student Affairs Committee would broaden the current charge of the Student Affairs Committee and specify two additional non-curricular, but related charges pertaining to the quality of student life on campus. The committee would obtain data annually on advisement and admissions, enrollment patterns and class size. An increased role of the Faculty Senate in admissions and advisement would allow the body to respond to profiles of accepted students and participate in the review of admissions criteria. Data would be acquired by faculty and student surveys addressing the relationship between student affairs, admission and advisement and members of the committee would be able to meet with the Registrar, Director of Admissions, Director of Financial Aid and the Vice-President for Student Affairs as well as the Provost to discuss policies, practices and future plans. The committee would be composed of seven (7) members with a Senator serving as chair with three ex officio members or their designees from the offices mentioned above. The Committee would report to the Senate annually and their findings could provide the bases for Senate discussions of policies, the development of recommendations concerning advisemment and admissions, and possibly, Senate sponsored academic forums and programs on advisement, admissions and student affairs.

Presently, the Senate is not invovled directly or specifically in matters of admissions pollicy and there is no oversight committee dealing with advisement as was recommended by SPARC in 1993. Additionally, information on advisement and admissions is not easily circulated to the Senate or available in formats suitable for group discussions/deliberations. This committee would be helping to collect data, to disseminate it, and to participate in policymaking as appropriate. Information on admissions and advisement and how they influence student affairs is of interest to all faculty and the Senate committee with this charge would be providing information of University-wide significance.

Description of the Committee

1.		Membership
		a. Seven faculty members elected by the Faculty Senate for three year terms. Members will be elected in overlapping years.
		b. Two students and two alternates elected by the Student Senate for a two year term.
		c. The Director of Admissions, Registrar and Director Academic Advisement will serve as non-voting ex-officio members. Members of the offices of the Provost, Financial Aid, and Student Affairs may also act as ex-officio members on a pro tem basis.
		d. No faculty member may serve more than two consecutive terms.
		e. In addition to the above membership, a chairperson from the Faculty Senate will be elected by the body as long as he/she retains senate membership for a three year term.

2.		Funcitons
		a. The Admissions, Advisement and Student Affairs Committee reviews those matters which pertain to admissions policies, faculty advisement of students, and non-curricular student affairs.
		b. The committee recommends general policy and practices in any of the following areas: enrollment planning, student development, student admissions, faculty advisement, off-campus life, student activities, safety and security, and other such areas as may be designated as admissions, advisement and student affairs issues.
		c. The committee also collects data for the periodic evaluation of the admissions and advisement process at MU. The evaluation process will survey faculty and students annually and in conjunction with such date the committee collects from other similar institutions on their admissions and advismeent activities.
		d. Policies recommended by the committee concerning program improvements and strategic planning are subject to review by the Faculty Senate and the Student Senate.
		e. The committee is primarily involved in policy review and recommendations of new policies when warranted. The committee is not involved in evaluation of individual faculty or students and will serve as advisory members to the administration only.
		f. The committee chairperson or his/her designee(s) will serve as ex-officio members of the administrative bodies overseeing admissions, advisement and student affairs, and will represent the Faculty Senate on any standing or ad hoc policies creation or review committees of the University's administration.

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