Response to President S Response - As-2422-123/Ap, Policy That

RESPONSE TO PRESIDENT’S RESPONSE - AS-2422-123/AP, POLICY THAT

ALLOWS FOR MINORS AND DOUBLE MAJORS1

CALIFORNIA STATE POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY, POMONA

ACADEMIC SENATE

ACADEMIC PROGRAMS COMMITTEE

REPORT TO

THE ACADEMIC SENATE

AS-2422-123/AP

RESPONSE TO PRESIDENT’S RESPONSE TO AS-2422-123/AP, POLICY THAT ALLOWS FOR MINORS AND DOUBLE MAJORS

Academic Programs CommitteeDate: 10-9-13

Executive Committee

Received and ForwardedDate: 10-23-13

Academic SenateDate:10-30-13

First Reading

ORIGINAL ACADEMIC SENATE RECOMMENDATION

The Academic Senate recommends the following policy on minors and double majors.

1.Students may declare up to two minors in addition to their primary major if all academic programs can be completed within 36 units above the number of units required for their primary major.Students must receive the approval of the chair of the department offering the proposed academic program.

2. Students may declare one major in addition to their primary major if all academic programs can be completed within 60 units above the number of units required for their primary major.Students must receive the approval of the chair of the department offering the proposed academic program.

3. Minors or double majors may be declared at any time in a students' career but students are strongly encouraged to declare minors and double majors early in their career. After earning 135 total units, students may declare a minor or additional major only if they are in good academic standing and have the approval of the chair of the department offering the proposed academic program. No changes to #3

Proposed New Policy on Minors and Double Majors

Students may declare up to two minors in addition to their primary major if all academic programs can be completed within 36 units above the number of units required for their primary major.Students must receive the approval of the chair of the department offering the proposed academic program.

Students may declare one major in addition to their primary major if all academic programs can be completed within 60 units above the number of units required for their primary major. Students must receive the approval of the chair of the department offering the proposed academic program.

Minors or double majors may be declared at any time in a students' career but students are strongly encouraged to declare minors and double majors early in their career. After earning 135 total units, students may declare a minor or additional major only if they are in good academic standing and have the approval of the chair of the department offering the proposed academic program.

Credits from transfer units, non-traditional college-level work (including AP, IB, and CLEP examinations, and credit by challenge examinations), and military service in excess of 90 quarter units shall be excluded from the unit count for the purposes of the minor and double major policies.*

Students may request exceptions to the minor and double major policy by filing a general academic petition.

*Students often have credits from these sources that are not applicable to their Cal Poly Pomona degree program for a variety of reasons, including unfamiliarity with how tertiary education works (especially first generation college students), poor advising at Community College, exploration/change of career direction, credits for sports, etc. The intention of this policy is to count up to 90 quarter units that likely fulfill GE and academic program requirements at Cal Poly Pomona without prohibiting transfer students from minoring or double majoring if they have a large number of units that do not further their Cal Poly Pomona degree.

The President’s response to Senate Report AS-2422-123/AP adopted 4/24/13approvestherecommendationsmadebytheAcademicSenate,withonechange, asfollows:I approve thelimitfordoublemajorsthatwasrecommendedbytheAcademicPrograms Committee(36quarterunitsbeyondthoserequiredfortheprimary degree), ratherthanthelimit approved bytheAcademicSenate(60quarterunits). Thelowerunitlimitwillenablestudentsto completetheirseconddegreewithinoneadditional year. Italsoalignswiththelimitproposed forminorsandwilltherefore belessconfusing tostudents andadvisors.

Academic Programs Committee response to the President’s response:The Academic Programs Committee discussed the presidents’ proposed change from 60 units to 36 units for students getting a second major and is suggesting a compromise of 45 units. This is primarily due to the double majors in the Music program. The Music Department has pointed out that they have many double majors, so even though campus wide double majors are only 1% of CPP students, that is 20% of the students in the Music programs. Iris Levine (Chair, Music) states that out of 31 graduating seniors from 2013, 6 were double majors. Thus, any policy for double majors has programmatic impacts for Music.

The Academic Programs Committee discussed this at length and is are suggesting 45 units for a second major. Keeping in mind that 1) only about 1% of CPP students are double majors so they are not the students taking up space in classes that could be used for new students, and 2) We do not want to unfairly impact a program such as Music where the double majors may be concentrated, and 3) CPP needs to keep in mind that student double majoring inMusic often come with years of music training and are a real addition to the campus in terms of performances.

FINAL RECOMMENDATION

The Academic Programs Committee recommends the final revised policy on second minors and double majors as follows:

New Policy on Minors and Double Majors

Students may declare one major in addition to their primary major if all academic programs can be completed within 45 units above the number of units required for their primary major. Students must receive the approval of the chair of the department offering the proposed academic program.

Students may request exceptions to the minor and double major policy by filing a general academic petition.