COMMITTEE ON THE CURRICULUM
MEETING MINUTES
Wed., Oct. 8, 1997, Pamplin Room, Watzek, 3:15-5:00
Present: Jane Atkinson, Mine Eder, Jack Hart, Curtis Johnson, Curt Keedy, Bob Owens, Roger Paget, Anne Price, Bill Randall, Tom Schoeneman, Stephen Weeks. Student Representatives: Kathy Carlson, Elizabeth Thiel. Absent: David Savage. Recorder: Eleanor Leonard.
Call to Order
1/ The meeting was called to order at 3:20 pm.
Approval of Minutes
2/ Roger Paget motioned to accept the Sept. 17, 1997, minutes. Vote was unanimous. Please send your corrections for the Sept. 24, 1997, minutes to the Recorder.
Grading Policy--Corrected Data & Latin Honors
3/ Chair Bill Randall handed out Mervin Brockett's corrected data on grade averages from Fall 1995 through Spring 1997 at Lewis & Clark.
4/ A discussion took place regarding the following issues:
5/ Should the College review its grading policy? Is this issue the responsibility of the Curriculum Committee? Changes regarding Latin Honors brings up the grading policy issue.
6/ There is a grading policy in the catalog, however, there appears to be little agreement by the faculty on what they regard as outstanding, good, etc. Discussion between faculty members about what they give for grades might help make grading more equal. Do the faculty want to proceed with the Latin Honors issues? If so than the grading policy becomes more important.
7/ Curtis Johnson suggested a Task Force to look into the history of LC's grades. Are the grades floating higher and higher?
8/ Roger Paget suggested letting the Divisional Deans proceed with this issue. No action was taken.
Subcommittee Issues
9/ Tom Schoeneman informed the CC that he was on the Phi Beta Kappa Committee and that he would report to the CC about this committee.
There were some concerns about what Phi Beta Kappa will think about LC's grade averages. Will they think averages are too high? Tom Schoeneman will keep us informed.
Course Proposal Subcommittee
10/ The Course Proposal Subcommittee recommended the approval of the following courses:
11/ 97.02 Sp98 Econ 240 Political Economy of Race, Class and Gender (Zahrt). New course. No Gen. Ed. relation. Cross-list with Political Economy and with Gender Studies. Bob Owens recommended approval of this course. Tom Schoeneman seconded. Vote unanimous.
12/ 97.04 GE F97 Th 250 Theatre in New York (Staff). Request that this course fulfill the Creative Arts requirement for Gen. Ed. Bob Owens recommended approval of this course. Jack Hart seconded. Vote unanimous.
13/ 97.05 Sp98 Hist 298 The U.S. and the Cold War (Simpson). One time only; no Gen. Ed. relation. Replacement course for Beckham while he is off campus. Bob Owens recommended approval of this course. Jack Hart seconded. Vote unanimous.
Inventing America Planning Committee
14/ John Callahan reported to the CC that the Planning Committee is aware of the concerns brought up by the students and faculty regarding the writing and speaking requirements of the Inventing America course.
15/ John Callahan said the Planning Committee welcomes all discussion regarding the Inventing America course.
16/ A lengthy discussion followed posing these questions and thoughts:
17/ There are concerns regarding fragmentation of IA. Should the course continue with excerpt readings or move to full readings? Should faculty be teaching outside their field? How far outside the syllabus can a faculty member go? If you're going to have a common gen. ed. requirement with a common syllabus it has to be firm. Does the College want to continue with a common education requirement? Should it be one semester or two? What about the incentives? Substance of course vs. staffing of course. Senior faculty don't want to or refuse to teach IA while junior faculty feel they must teach it. (For the record, Curtis Johnson said that he hears high levels of enthusiasm from junior faculty who are teaching IA.)
18/ Jane Atkinson gave a brief history of the gen. ed. requirements in the past. In 25 years there have been 5-6 different gen. ed. requirements that have come and gone--starting with Western Civ. through Basic Inquiry. A total "revolution" towards these courses has not worked in the past, perhaps we should try "evolution"--improvements can be made to steer IA into a steady course.
19/ Perhaps there should be a Faculty Forum to discuss concerns. Should the forum take place now or wait until next year when the IA program is being reviewed. Roger Paget suggested drawing up a paper with the pros and cons to hand out to faculty members for discussion at the forum.
20/ It was decided that Jack Hart would talk to David Savage regarding the possibility of the Planning Committee meeting with the Arts & Humanities Divisional Chairs.
Other Matters
21/ Anne Price told the CC that it was not her understanding that use of prerequisites for courses in the registration process (Item #7, Agenda 10/8/97) was last year's issue but instead it was to reconsider the requirements of prerequisites for all 300 & 400 level courses.
22/ Meeting adjourned at 5:00 pm.
Approved 10/15/97