February 5, 2004

W. Bateman called the meeting to order in Room 223 of the Student Union Building at 4:01 p.m.

Present: Marilyn Baguinon, William Bateman, Eric Beaven, Jorie Borden, Emily Button, Dan Cates, Rhonda Wall for James Chaney, Janice Chernekoff, Kate Clair for Miles DeCoster, Peggy Devlin, Gregory Hanson for Pascale Dewey, Dennis Dietrich, Charles Cullum for Linda Goldberg, Bruce Gottschall, Amadou Guisse, James Hall, Beth Herbine, Arifeen Daneshyar for James Hvidding, Deryl Johnson, Patricia Kelleher, Kevin Kjos, Lisa Ladd-Kidder, David Laubach, Joseph Lippincott, Carol Mapes, Robert Martin, John McAndrew, George Paterno, Morris Perinchief, Ilene Prokup, Avidan Milevsky for Dennis Rains, Gail Rothermel, Neil Shea, Andrew Skitko, James Sowerwine, Raymond Tumbleson, Edward Vicic, David Wagaman, Samuel Westmoreland, Dana Wilcox, Clark Yeager

Absent: Deborah Barlieb, Joan Davis, Roger Hibbs, Paula Holoviak, Charles Roth, Paul Sable, Judith Smith, John Vafeas, Bob Watrous

Others in Attendance: Richard Zera

I.    Announcements

W. Bateman announced that the final Senate meeting for the academic year has been changed from May 6 to Thursday, April 29. He also announced that the meeting on April 29 would be held in Room 223 of the SUB rather than in the Blue Room.

E. Beaven moved, L. Ladd-Kidder seconded, to approve the Agenda. The motion passed.

B. Gottschall moved, M. Baguinon seconded, to approve the Minutes of the December 4, 2003 meeting. M. Baguinon noted the following corrections to the Minutes: M. Baguinon's name is misspelled throughout the Minutes; Page 2, first line under Old Business: "their" should be changed to "there"; Page 2, second last sentence: the word "of" is repeated twice; Page 3, first line under Election of Senate Vice President and Secretary: "Johnston" should be changed to "Johnson." The Minutes were approved as amended.

A. Election of Senate Secretary for a one-year term

On a motion by D. Johnson and seconded by C. Mapes, M. Baguinon was nominated for the position of Senate Secretary. B. Gottschall moved and E. Button seconded to close nominations. The motion passed. W. Bateman directed D. Johnson as Senate Secretary to cast a ballot for M. Baguinon to serve as Senate Secretary beginning with the Fall 2004 semester.

A.    Proposal from Graduate Council about 400-level courses

Motion: Courses at the 400 level are designed to be flexible to the needs of students and programs. By definition, they are at a higher level of difficulty than 300-level courses and at a lower level than 500-level courses, but 400-level courses may be used or required for either undergraduate or graduate degree programs, depending on the curricular requirements of the degree program. Courses at the 400-level that are taken for credit in an undergraduate program cannot be used or repeated for credit in a graduate program. However, 400-level courses may be used for credit as part of a combined bachelor's / master's program. Individual master's programs may limit the number of 400-level credits that can apply to the degree or require a specific number of 500-level credits for the degree. Students should consult with their advisors before taking 400-level courses.

Concern was expressed relative to allowing 400-level courses to be required for undergraduate degree programs and about the transcription of these courses so that 400-level courses taken for an undergraduate degree are not also used towards the graduate degree. G. Rothermel moved, E. Button seconded, to table discussion of the proposal so that these issues could be clarified. The motion passed.

B.    New Plus/Minus Grading Proposal

M. Perinchief moved, J. Sowerwine seconded, the following plus/minus grading proposal:

Motion: Be it resolved that the grading system at Kutztown University be expanded to include the following grades with the point values given in parenthesis: A (4.00), A- (3.67), B+ (3.33), B (3.00), B- (2.67), C+ (2.33), C (2.00), D (1.00), and F (0.00). Be it further resolved that the matter be determined by a referendum of all permanent (tenured and tenure-track) faculty where a simple majority is required for passage.

Following discussion, J. Hall moved and E. Button seconded to table the motion in order to give Senators more time to discuss the proposal with their constituents. The motion failed.

After more discussion, D. Wilcox moved, L. Ladd-Kidder seconded, to amend the motion by replacing "simple majority" with "two-thirds majority" relative to the referendum. The motion passed. The amended main motion to approve the plus/minus-grading proposal passed by a vote of 21 in favor and 14 against. W. Bateman indicated that the referendum will be conducted electronically as soon the software is written to conduct the voting.

E. Beaven moved, L. Ladd-Kidder seconded, to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:10 p.m.