Sometimes a person just cannot escape their past.
Such is the case for a USI student who was the main topic of an hour-long discussion at the Dec. 5 faculty senate meeting.
With a 3.986 grade-point average over 131-semester hours at USI, the student should be graduating with Magna Cum Laude honors but will not be because of their academic past.
The student, who was not named at the meeting, flunked out of Ball State after one semester and later moved on to USI, where they are expecting to graduate this fall.
Provost and Ex-Officio of the faculty senate Linda Bennett brought up the student’s case and said the student has gotten all A’s with the exception of one B since coming to USI.
Typically, a student with that academic record would graduate with Magna Cum Laude honors, but the student’s performance at Ball State will prevent them from receiving the honor.
Why the concern from the faculty senate?
According to Bennett, the student’s semester at Ball State happened 10 years ago.
Bennett said the student has since enlisted in the U.S. Naval Academy and served four years before deciding to go back to school at the University of Southern Indiana.
“This case was simply one that represented a situation wherein the question is, ‘is our policy working?'," Bennett said.
Currently, the “University Requirements for Graduation Honors” states that students must “have a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.6 on all academic work attempted from all institutions attended,” as well as a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.6 on all USI classes attempted.
Transfer students are required to provide all of their grades from other universities to USI. Assistant Provost Brian Posler said any student who omits a part of their academic record could be kicked out of the university.
In most instances USI students’ grade-point average only includes their performance at USI, but under the current honors policy, the student’s entire body of work at all institutions is taken into account when determining graduation honors.
This causes confusion for some students, Bennett said.
“At every commencement point we have students come in who are deeply disappointed to discover that they will not receive the graduation with honors they thought they would,” she said.
Posler said he has talked to three students that, like the example given at the senate meeting, have issues with USI’s current honors system and knows of about 15 that are negatively affected by it.
Bennett asked four universities about their policies regarding the matter and received mixed responses.
Western Kentucky and Murray State both had similar guidelines to the current USI policy, but Ball State and Appalachian State do not include transfer work with their honors programs.
At the faculty senate meeting, Bennett proposed a change in the wording of the honors policy to: “Complete a minimum of 63 semester hours at the University of Southern Indiana with a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.6 on all academic work attempted at USI.”
If the proposed change were implemented, it would act similarly to USI’s “Fresh Start” program that allows undergraduate students who previously attended USI and were academically dismissed to return and attempt to finish their degree after they are four or more years removed from their dismissal.
The newly proposed honors requirements would permit students who did poorly at other institutions to still receive honors if they meet the USI requirements and complete enough hours at USI to qualify.
The faculty senate members unanimously agreed a revision of the current policy was necessary, but the number of hours these students should have to complete at USI to be eligible to receive honors was the source of an unofficial vote and a debate.
The original number proposed by Bennett was 63, but concern was raised by some senate members that students could essentially do poorly at another institution and then transfer to USI and receive honors after only four semesters of good performance while at USI.
The number was initially raised to the 93, but a discussion arose about the fairness of this number towards transfer students who often come to USI needing less than 93 hours to graduate.
This would exclude transfer students who have completed more than 30 hours at another institution from the possibility of receiving honors without taking additional hours than what is necessary to graduate.
Bennett said the number of hours must be chosen cautiously.
“I would want us to be very careful not to discriminate against transfer students,” Bennett said. “I would not want us to make any policy that would make a student feel like they have to take more hours, significantly more hours, beyond that required for the degree.”
Seventy-five and 84 hours were also suggested.
“Personally, I think for a USI honors distinction, a strong majority of the hours should be completed at USI,” said Kent Scheller, the faculty senate vice chair. “Additional considerations will have to be made for special cases and some formal discussion needs to take place to make it happen.”
Due to a lack of consensus on the number of hours, Bennett attempted to have the issue taken off the table.
“If the initial proposal is not acceptable then we should take it off the table,” she said.
Bennett said she was hoping to have a quick resolution in order to allow her student example and others affected by the policy to graduate with the honors they have earned.
“Of course I was hoping that there would be quick resolution but I understand completely why the senators would want to have further consideration for this,” she said.
At-Large Senator Peter Cashel-Cordo said there was an overall agreement but more discussion needs to take place before there is a policy change.
“I think everyone in that room wanted that kid to graduate with honors but you don’t change a policy to do that,” he said. “Changing a complex policy without due thought to achieve that end is not the best possible course.”
“We need to examine this policy and try to strike a balance that fits our mission but it has to be well thought out.”
Senate member Chad Tew put forward a motion to have the issue taken to Student Affairs. Sudesh Mujumdar seconded the motion.
“I’m hoping they broaden this out and they look at a number of issues,” Tew said.
The issue will be discussed by Student Affairs and then will be brought back to the faculty senate for a final decision.
“In the spring, that committee should report back to the faculty senate and the faculty senate should take action at that time,” he said.
“I would expect the faculty senate to make a decision in the spring.”
Cashel-Cordo said this issue being brought to the faculty senate is proof that the faculty’s voice is being heard.
“This is an example of an administration that is listening to the faculty,” he said.
The discussion will now move on to Student Affairs after the senate spent nearly half of their two-hour meeting on the issue.
“It was good that the Provost brought this problematic policy to our attention and I am positive we will end up with a good policy that properly awards exemplary work at USI,” Scheller said.
Other topics discussed by the faculty senate:
Campus security hoping to improve
USI Security Director Steve Woodall attended the meeting to address the concerns about campus security. The senate encouraged Woodall to look into the possibility of USI security having their own “911” emergency number in order to respond to immediate issues. The senate proposed a “777” phone number that students and others could call to alert campus security of emergencies. Woodall also mentioned having a member of each campus building possess a “walkie-talkie” phone that could be used for communication during safety issues if phone lines were not working.
The potential of conducting spring graduation a week earlier
The senate members also brought up the idea of moving spring graduation up a week earlier before finals because it often lands on Mother’s Day. Ex-Officio Linda Bennett said the idea was suggested to students and the feedback was negative – due to the loss of a study day for finals, among other reasons. One suggestion was to have a “dead week” before finals. The “dead week” would prevent teachers from giving students tests the week before finals week so they will have that time to study for finals. Bennett said she does not feel comfortable moving forward with the issue without more input from students.
The policy if finals week is canceled
A discussion took place with regards to the university’s policy if campus had to be closed during finals week due to weather or other issues. There is no current policy that states when finals would be made up or if they would be made up at all. Some suggestions were canceling finals or designating Saturday and Sunday after finals week for makeup days. The hypothetical situation could be important this year with the proximity of finals week to Christmas Day. No official decision was made.
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