Thelomathesian Society

Minutes

1 December 2004

I.  Call to Order

This meeting of the Thelomathesian Society was called to order in the Hannon Room of the Student Center at 7:05. President Snedeker first asked for a moment of silence in remembrance of Adam Falcon. He then entertained a motion to approve the minutes. Senator Hughes motioned for the approval, which was seconded by Senator Olivo.

II. Attendance

The following Senators were present, absent, or excused from the meeting on 1 December 2004:

Residence / Name / Present, Excused, Unexcused
Senior Townhouses / VACANT
VACANT
62 Park / Erin Hart / Present
Dean Eaton / Kate Byrne /

Present

Ben Lee / Present
VACANT
Randy Olivo / Present
Jana Morgan / Present
Dan Allen / Present
Gaines / Matt Brender / Present
Hulett / Kristin Rury / Present
Jamey Maswick / Present
Jenks / Katrina Franz / Present
Leah Yandow / Present
Lee / Siobhan Scanlan / Present
Sarah Gomer / Present
Jonathan Solomon / Present
Chad Burbank / Present
Emily Denham / Present
Off-Campus / Lauren Nuffort / Present
Elizabeth Mudie / Present
Priest / Drew Crawford / Present
Rebert / Ashley Cutler / Present
Rachel Hall / Present

Elizabeth Boyd

/ Present
Laura Rabinow / Present
Chance Johnson / Present
Reiff / Stefanie Chipperfield / Present
Sykes / John Gursky / Present
William Hughes / Present
Noelle O’Brien / Present
Robert Glover / Present
Ellen Doble / Present
Kristina Grube / Present
Theme Cottages / Max Perez / Present
Paul Bien-Aimé / Present
Dennis Morreale / Present
Whitman / Mandie Barney / Present
Chelsea Davidson / Present
Katie McGinty / Present
Lindsey Wetmiller / Present
Kirk Donovan / Present
On Campus Live in Greek / Simba Pasipanodya / Present
VACANT
Erin Stone / Present
FYC / Jake Ryder / Present
Tabitha Ferrer / Present
Sophomore Class / Ryan Prenger /

Present

Mike Weineke / Present
Junior Class / Carla Hunter / Present
VACANT
Senior Class / Fredyne Yust / Present
Pam Hughes / Present
Senator At Large / Jeff Haislet / Present
Jeremy Cronin / Present
Andy Cook / Present
Stacey Banfiield-Hardaway / Present
Jess Henty / Present

Jeff Haislet

/ Present

Jessi Burg

/ Present

Domenico Pirrotta

/ Present

John Slattery

/ Present
/ VACANT

Ben Sears

/ Present

Karoline Chrzanowski

/ Present

Dimitar Velikov

/ Present

Meredith Perry

/ Present

III. Officer Reports

A.  Vice President of University Relations – Alex Sheppard

Vice President Sheppard yielded his time to Dean Cornwell.

Dean Cornwell stated his appreciation to having a meeting of this nature. He added that there are a lot of good reasons to be having this meeting, especially academically. He stated that he had brought four colleagues to discuss four different initiatives- Professor Kerry Johns, Professor Liz Regosin, Carolyn Filippi of the Registrar’s office, and Professor Ron Flores.

Professor Johns began by stating that she is the chair of Academic Affairs. She mentioned the proposal that was brought before them to change the grading system, and stated that because they had to much to deal with last semester, they sent it to the different departments, and there was no sentiment to change and so they moved on to other things. She stated that it was brought before them again, with the addition of the referendum, and in the end of October they voted to endorse the proposal, and it now needs to go through faculty council. Dean Cornwell added that it would need to go from faculty council, then to the full faculty. He stated that students would come before the faculty to present it. Dean Cornwell stated this would require a simple majority and that current grades would stay the same and the earliest to implement would be in the fall.

Senator Hughes asked what overall effect this would have on a student’s average.

Dean Cornwell stated that would be at the faculty’s discretion. He stated that he did not know if it would improve averages, rather he thought it would go either way.

Professor Regosin stated that in the past year they have done some reorganizing and they pulled four offices together- Advising, Support, Achievement and Services. She stated that this made more sense for much of the administration and staff, in which their driving force is their mission statement; it asks that students be responsible for their own academic planning. She stated that students are now coming to them for more reasons than getting in trouble, especially in terms of long term planning. She stated that this is the model that they are now using. She stated that you should now be thinking about what your career at SLU means. She stated that in time she would like to take ideas from the Senate in how they can draw students to their office. Overall, she stated that the responsibility of academics in terms of planning and whatnot fall to the student. She concluded by emphasizing the website.

Dean Cornwell stated that in terms of advising, the philosophical shift that is important to them is as the advisor making sure the advisee is on track to graduate and to help the student figure out their purpose, or career, at SLU. He then added that e-portfolios are now becoming common, where you can access your portfolio on the network, and integrate a network of your co-curricular activities. He stated they are piloting some products now and that is the vision taking place.

Carolyn Filippi stated that one of the things the registrar is proposing is for students complete a form for the intent to graduate. She stated that the reasoning for this is that the registrar’s office has been controlling who will graduate and this was based on the units needed. She stated that there are always places that they trip on, whereas students’ intentions are different than what is shown by the transcript. Overall it promotes internationality and some agency in stating when a student intends to graduate.

Mr. Fritz-Penniman stated he is intending to graduate in a few weeks, and this could really help students in the future with these intentions.

Senator Burg stated she had a question about distribution requirements, and in trying to explain them to her residents, that she could not find the distributions counted for previous courses.

This was clarified that it was further down on the transcript online.

Carolyn Filippi encouraged questions in the future and reminded students to check their SLU email often.

Ron Flores stated that he is the director of Community Based Learning Programs. He stated that it is an academic program, which combines community activities/service, which will meet the needs of the community and course direction- the combination of classroom and community. He named the number of classes that fall under this class. He stated there are a number of different pillars that comprise this class. He added that in the class they want to create a collaborative partnership as democratic actors to work with community organizations to ensure needs are met, in which they are figuring out problems and solutions. He stated that this gives the student an opportunity to venture into a community they may not have before, and discover opinions on issues and discover how to solve them. He then named a number of different institutions that try to get students involved in the community. He stated that this integration between the classroom and these institutions has begun.

Mr. Fritz-Penniman asked if permitting students live off-campus would allow for this integration. He stated that he felt the requirement to live on campus limits this integration.

Ron Flores stated that this should be a dialogue to take place.

Vice President Sheppard asked how the community has responded to students entering the community.

Ron Flores stated that they have been very responsive. He stated that if they thought they might over saturate the community, in building this, they have uncovered more places to reach out to. He stated that how to help the community members thinking outside the box has been a greater challenge.

Dean Cornwell then asked for suggestions and comments.

Senator Hughes stated that the impression he has gotten is that there is a certain degree of discontent with the .5 credit and he asked if he could offer an explanation for academic value in that .5 credit.

Dean Cornwell stated that it couldn’t continue as it is. He stated that SPLS used to be required and it was worth .5, but as they moved away from it, they did not have this, however it is still required by the state, and they are trying to find opportunities to meet that credit. He stated they are a number of ideas to meet these criteria. However, after going after it for a few years, it does not fit well, but as a universal solution these ideas are not working and they continue to figure out how to address this.

Senator Hughes asked about the early warning system,

Liz Regosin detailed the system in which professors make academic advising aware if a student is in trouble, four weeks into the semester, and professors are also asked to give grades of those students who have less than a 2.0 half way through the semester.

B. Vice President of Senate Affairs- Adam Casler

Vice President Casler stated that he had two things to report on this evening. He stated that the first was that although he is well aware that everyone is busy at this time of the year, there is still a meeting scheduled for next week, and there are items on the agenda that will need to be passed. He added that there also may be some surprises for Senators who attend. Vice President Casler also stated that Thelmo meetings are not extremely long, and yet are extremely important, so he stated that he would like to make sure that people are giving their full and undivided attention, and not dozing off.

C.  Secretary – Molly Ryan

Secretary Ryan had no report, but reminded everyone to please stand and state his or her names and speak loudly.

IV. Student Delegate Report

A.  Student Delegate to the Board of Trustees –Heather Thomas

Student Delegate to the Board of Trustees Heather Thomas welcomed the Senate. She discussed what was on the agenda at the most recent meeting of the
Buildings and Grounds University Committee meeting on November 11. The discussion encompassed standardized signage on university property, the cubes that were given for in front of the student center, which will be discussed more following the relocation of the Health Center, walkways, erratic heating in Sykes, and the ongoing discussion regarding Catamount and Snowbowl.Thomas reported that there were no Priorities and Planning meeting today. Thomas referred to the most recent report from President Sullivan. The topics included were standardized testing, the Canton Initiative, Cash flow and the Science project, and the planning of the new campaign. Thomas reported on these items in her own report following the October meeting of the Board of Trustees. Thomas also mentioned that snowbowl, which is being marketed as a ski hill with an emphasis on sustainability and environmental concerns, was mentioned in the report. Thomas encouraged the Senate to read the report if they have not had a chance to do so yet.

V. Committee Chair Reports

A.  SLUSAF Central Treasurer- Saurabh Gupta

Treasurer Gupta announced that the next important task for SLUSAF is the spring budget process. He invited comments and suggestions regarding the process before it begins that will enable it to be smooth. He also suggested that members of the groups that feel they do not have adequate money contact the B and F committee before the budget process starts.

B.  Academic Affairs Chair – Jason Eisenhuth

Chairperson Eisenhuth stated that the results are in from the survey question about a two-tier academic distinction system. The student body voted overwhelmingly in favor of it. My committee will be meeting at 9pm on Sunday to put together additional research to make a strong proposal for the academic affairs university committee.

C.  Priorities and Planning Chair – Alison Eusden

Chairperson Eusden announced that the university committee had read over the post board memo, which focused upon making standardized testing optional for future students, the renewal of projects in the Canton Initiative, funding of the new science facilities and also the sale of university property. In addition, the previous committee meeting had spent considerable time examining changes that will be implemented to the university’s employees’ health care plans.

D.  Student Life Chair – Elizabeth Pimentel

Chair of the Student Life Committee reported she has resumed contact with Security Chief Pat Gagnon and will be meeting with him on Monday evening to discuss security concerns and to go on the light walk. Also, everyone should be receiving the flyers concerning the locations of the computer labs on campus. There should also be an article in the Hill News that includes that information. She also resumed contact with Dining Services and is currently awaiting a response from Cindy Atkins. Her response will include answers to a list of questions that were compiled by the committee. There will also be an article containing this information, soon. Also, she has only received a few responses concerning the alcohol policy, she would like senators to get their reports to her as soon as possible. Also, the next meeting will be Thursday night at 9 on the third floor of the Student Center. Anyone with input should feel free to contact her.