The Keene State Senate convened outside of their usual once-a-month schedule to tie up loose ends before the end of February, the deadline for changes to the academic catalog.
The Feb. 28 meeting saw two committees, the Academic Policy Committee (APC) and Senate Curriculum Committee (SCC) bring a handful of proposals for votes.
The APC, chaired by Senator Greg Knouff, professor of history, gave their report and offered a pair of proposals regarding attendance as well as retakes for clinical experiences in the education preparation programs.
The first proposal brought forth by Knouff was related to the college’s attendance policy. Knouff said the proposal was not a material change but rather a way to clarify language to students regarding it.
Knouff said any student who misses more than three weeks of classes, including excused absences, can be withdrawn.
“That doesn’t mean it has to happen, the exception to that is it’s up to the faculty to make individual accommodations, in fact, it’s always the faculty member’s prerogative to articulate clearly in the syllabus what the attendance policy is,” Knouff said.
The proposal was passed by a unanimous voice vote.
Knouff then moved to immediately implement the policy change, which also passed via a unanimous voice vote.
A Feb. 29 email from the KSC Office of the Provost sent to students, faculty and staff outlined the change.
“The policy has not fundamentally changed. It was improved for readability and reinforces the important connection between class attendance and academic achievement,” the email stated.
The next proposal brought by Knouff was a change to the Education Preparation program’s retake policy for tests within clinical experience courses – student teaching and methods.
The change mandates students cannot retake the tests without first obtaining permission from the program.
After moving for a vote, Senator Jacob Favolise, junior, asked if the proposal would allow for any program with clinical experience to modify the college’s retake policy for their own usage.
Knouff said a generalized policy would not work in this case, as the proposal was crafted with the help of Senator Tanya Sturtz, director of Education Preparation.
“We’re adding this piece in so that students are aware that we are not going to just let them keep retaking methods courses that have implications not only on Keene State but our local schools as well,” Sturtz said.
Senator Chris Parsons, professor of English Education, said he would not be opposed to a generalized proposal but he was not aware of other programs wanting to change their clinical study retake policy.
Senator Kirk Sanger, professor of Nursing, said his program, which contains clinical experiences, could use tweaks in the future but their retake policy would likely differ when it comes up.
Favolise asked why the proposal would not be implemented immediately, to which Senator Karen Stanish, professor of Mathematics, said an immediate implementation would affect current students.
“We try to have all curriculum approved this month so that when the curriculum goes live soon, this would be a part of it,” Stanish said.
The SCC, chaired by Nick Germana, professor of history, also brought forth a pair of proposals regarding the safety program and the Economics program.
Germana introduced a proposal to finalize changes previously made to the Safety and Occupational Health Applied Sciences.
“There were several related proposals and they made some changes, we passed all the changes, but then they had to follow that up with the paperwork to make sure that all the program proposals were in shape and this one lagged behind,” Germana said at the meeting.
Germana moved for a vote on the proposal and Favolise questioned why the proposal needed to be made if the items were approved previously.
Germana responded, clarifying the proposal was to reflect the course changes in the program itself.
The proposal was then passed by a unanimous voice vote.
Another proposal brought forth by Germana was to formally put the Economics program on hold.
The Equinox previously reported in a Feb. 21 article the Economics program was being phased out in favor of a Finance program, a change brought forth by Economics Department Chair William McColloch.
Germana said a condition of the approval of the Finance program was putting the Economics program on hold.
When a program is put on hold, students cannot newly declare as that major or minor. Students who are already declared majors or minors of a given program are grandfathered in and are allowed to graduate with their diploma in the program.
The proposal passed with a unanimous voice vote.
Nathan Hope can be contacted at
nhope@kscequinox.com
