WILLIAM MARSH RICE UNIVERSITY Minutes of the Faculty Meeting

March 27, 1995

Attendance: Approximately 40 persons

Summary

President Malcolm Gillis called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. in 124 Herring Hall. The agenda consisted of six items:

1. The minutes of the meeting of February 13, 1995
   
2. A change in the restricted distribution course initiative
   
3. Faculty Council by-laws
   
4. A proposal to change the basis for graduation honors
   
5. The calendar for academic year 1997-98
   
6. Announcements
   

The minutes and the change in the foundation course initiative were approved. The revised Faculty Council by-laws were approved after additional amendments. As explained below, the proposal to change the basis for graduation honors was sent back to The Committee on Examinations and Standing for further revisions. The 1997-98 academic calendar was amended. Orientation will begin on Sunday, August 24th, and the drop deadline is to be made consistent with the date specified in University Announcements. Faculty Council was asked to take up the definition of "half-time" in the description of voting faculty, and President Gillis said that he would ask the deans to report at the first fall faculty meeting on progress in developing restricted distribution courses.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m.

Discussion

Modification of the Restricted Distribution Course Initiative

Bill Wilson, Chair of the Curriculum Committee, presented a proposed modification (which was attached to the meeting agenda) to the restricted distribution course plan that the faculty had adopted. The modification abandons the goal of trying to introduce the proposed restricted distribution requirement and allows the foundation course requirement to remain on the books, with the exception of Humanities, which has proposed to the Curriculum Committee to offer the following courses as meeting restricted distribution or foundation course requirements: HUMA 101/102, "Myth, history, and the problem of the past," "The self in text and image: Augustine to Mapplethorpe," and "Medieval studies." After some discussion, this motion was approved with only one reading on the grounds that it was a change to the existing program and not a new "important topic." The President agreed to ask the deans to report at the first meeting in the fall on the progress in their respective divisions in creating restricted distribution courses.

Faculty Governance Proposal: Faculty Council By-Laws

The Speaker of Faculty Council, Larry McIntire, presented the revised by-laws for Faculty Council and outlined the principal changes, noting that Faculty Council had attempted to incorporate faculty advice. The principal objections to the proposed by-laws involved how to indicate that the Appeals Committee was to limit its deliberations to whether procedures had been followed (and not to substantive matters, the appropriateness of having untenured faculty members serve on the Appeals Committee, and the definition of voting faculty. Faculty Council preferred to explicitly state that the Appeals Committee could make substantive recommendations. The amended version of the by-laws explicitly limits the Appeals Committee to dealing with questions of procedural correctness. When the Appeals Committee believed that it could make helpful recommendations, it would forward such suggestions unofficially to the administration. Dean Jim Kinsey moved that the second sentence of Article III. Section A. be modified to read: "The function of the Committee is to receive faculty appeals concerning whether proper university procedures had been followed in decisions both on promotion and tenure and decisions concerning allegations of unethical actions affecting one or more members of the faculty." He also moved that the next to the last sentence of that paragraph be deleted. This motion passed. Section A now reads as follows.

Section A. Appeals Committee

The membership of the Appeals Committee will consist of those members of Faculty Council who do not also serve on University Council. The function of the Committee is to receive faculty appeals concerning whether proper university procedures have been followed in decisions on promotion and tenure and in decisions concerning allegations of unethical actions affecting one or more members of the faculty. The Committee will also consider any other appeals from faculty concerning whether proper university procedures have been followed. The final action of the Committee in any case shall be a report and/or recommendation to the President.

Proposal to Change the Basis for Graduation Honors

The proposal originating from the Rice Student Association requested the following changes in the distribution of graduation honors:

Honor	Present in percent	Proposed in percent
Summa cum laude	3	5
Magna cum laude	7	10
Cum laude	10	15

The critical issues in the debate were as follows. (a) The subjective basis for awarding honors depends on what degree of rarity constitutes an appropriate distinctiveness. To some persons one in five is sufficiently rare and one in three is too common. Others view one in three acceptable if earned. Some people want the basis to be a particular grade point average, not a percentage. (b) The numbers about other schools' practices provided in the student proposal are not comparable to Rice statistics because Rice allows students to earn grade point averages above 4.0 whereas other schools in the table do not. Furthermore, the schools included in the list are not comparable to Rice. (c) The basis of graduation honors is not consistent with the basis for recognition on the President's Honor Roll. Some people find this difference objectionable; others do not. (d) Students want to show honors to employers and graduate school admissions committees, but honors have not usually been conferred when students apply to graduate schools and interview for jobs.

In order to make a more appropriate comparison, the faculty voted to return the matter to the Committee on Examinations and Standing. This matter will not be considered again until the fall of 1995.

Adoption of the Official Calendar for 1997-98

The proposed calendar was corrected to reflect the agreed date for the beginning of Orientation Week, Sunday, August 24th. The confusion over the deadline for dropping courses will be remedied by making the official calendar consistent with the University Announcements.

Interested faculty may view the videotape of this meeting, which has been deposited in the archives in the Woodson Research Library in Fondren Library.

Respectfully Submitted,
Linda Driskill, Secretary of the Faculty