WILLIAM MARSH RICE UNIVERSITYWILLIAM MARSH RICE UNIVERSITYSummary
1. Minutes
2. Compliance with Hopwood Decision
3. Report on Special Admissions
4. Faculty Handbook
5. Curriculum Reform
6. Announcements
Minutes of the September 27, 1996 meeting were approved.
Provost David Auston spoke about the University's efforts to comply with the Hopwood Decision, which forbids consideration of race in University admissions. Auston affirmed that the administration continues to believe that having students from diverse backgrounds with diverse points of view and life experiences enriches the university community. Provost's Remarks.
President Gillis noted that the University is systematically reviewing all policies to bring them into compliance. The administration will look at the effects of these policy changes in about a year.
Fred Rudolph, Chair of the Admissions Committee, presented a report on special admissions (students who are admitted by a different process than regular students). Rudolph explained that the subcommittee followed an admissions procedure for scholarship athletes that was revised two years ago. A subcommittee of the Admissions Committee reviews all scholarship athletes' applications and makes recommendations to the Dean of Admissions, who decides whether the applicants will be admitted. Although the folders are classified according to criteria for three different groups of applicants, prospective students in all three groups are reviewed by the same procedure, and in all cases the greatest attention is given to each student's ability to thrive and graduate at Rice. This year the requirements in the three categories have been redefined to reflect the recentering of the Scholastic Aptitude Test scores and to eliminate the separate criteria that were formerly allowed for minority athletes.
Because the faculty have affirmed on several occasions their desire for scholarship athletes to be better prepared for academic work, some faculty attending the meeting were concerned whether non minority applicants would now be admitted with lower scores. It was pointed out that if the students with the lowest scores were all minority students, the University might not be in compliance with the Hopwood decision, because the practice would indicate that the University was using a different admissions floor for minorities. However, requiring all students to meet the standards formerly set for non minorities would unfairly punish minority candidates. Chandler Davidson reminded the group that the plan to elevate the standards for scholarship athletes is a long-term commitment, and that it will take time to accomplish this goal. Continued effort to identify and recruit qualified students is the key to success. President Gillis affirmed that the administration supports the process of raising standards, a goal that most other universities have not adopted, and asked for faculty forebearance. When asked, the President said that the success of the process should be reviewed in about five or six years.
In the meantime, everyone was glad to learn that since 1989 the SAT scores for scholarship athletes in the 25th percentile and at the 75th percentile have continued to rise, and that in 1995-96 the revised review process was followed conscientiously. The Dean of Admissions refused the recommendation of the subcommittee on special admissions only 3 times (as opposed to over 10 times the year before), and the Athletic Department used less than half the number of special admissions positions that current guidelines allow. Several sports had no procedure 3 admissions at all. Rudolph noted that no athletic trainers are admitted through the special admissions process, and the average SAT score for athletic trainers is above the average SAT score for the Rice entering class as a whole. Rudolph proposes to monitor the SAT scores of trainers but to report on them only if they appear to drop off suddenly.
Ira Gruber, Chair of the Faculty Handbook Committee, reported that the committee has obtained copies of many comparable schools' handbooks and is evaluating them. The committee intends to focus on ways that faculty members can benefit from easily accessed information and to avoid the legalistic tone of certain other universities' handbooks. The on-line version of the handbook will enable faculty users to move back and forth easily between the handbook screens and the actual policies, many of which are already available on Rice Info. The committee welcomes suggestions about policies or about publication methods. Contact Ira Gruber.
- Ira Gruber - gruber@rice.edu
Professor William Martin, Chair of the Curriculum Reform Committee, explained the appointment and process of his committee whose members are shown below.
Remarks of William Martin
Committee Members
Brandon Bidlack student member 630-8607 Sid Burrus Computer and Electrical Engineering ext. 4020 Priscilla Huston Special Assistant to the Provost ext. 4007 John Hutchinson Chemistry ext. 3469 Carol Quillen History ext. 2269 Walter Isle English ext. 5606 Ben Lee Anthropology ext. 2583 Kathy Matthews Biochemistry and Cell Biology ext. 4871
Faculty should look for further communication from the committee in the spring.
President Gillis made two announcements. He introduced Jordan Konisky, who has been appointed the new Associate Provost for Research and Graduate Studies, a position that reunites responsibilities last held in 1985 by John Margrave, Dean of Advanced Studies. He also introduced Associate Provost Roland Smith, who will coordinate Rice University's seventeen outreach programs and oversee efforts to recruit and retain minority students.The meeting was adjourned at 5:26 p.m.
