Committee on Educational Policy
Annual Report, 1998-99

To the Academic Senate, Santa Cruz Division:

This year, the Committee on Educational Policy brought a proposal for revision of UCSC's general education requirements before the Senate, as well as a resolution to rescind the Senate's 1991 resolution calling for the additional teaching of a 1, 2 or 3-credit course or comparable service to the Senate; discussed and endorsed a revision of the procedures for academic dishonesty; and continued with the drafting of a faculty handbook on grading.

The Committee carried out its usual substantial amount of routine business: course approval, catalog review, external review of programs, review of student petitions, and responses to questions from faculty, students, and the administration. CEP members represented the Committee on the Senate Advisory Council (SAC), Campus Academic Planning Council (CAPC), the Universitywide Committee on Educational Policy (UCEP), the Task Force on a UCSC Regional Center, and external reviews of programs.

In fall, 1998, CEP continued its discussion of a proposal to revise UCSC's general education requirements. The proposal, which was circulated campuswide in the spring of 1998, was amended in response to comments received from faculty, staff, students, and the administration, in focus groups, individual responses as well as the discussion at the fall Senate meeting. With passage of a resolution endorsing in a non-binding way the

overall approach of the General Education proposal at the fall meeting, CEP further refined the proposal which was approved at the winter, 1999 Senate meeting with one amendment which proved to be controversial -- whether the writing-intensive requirement should be in the student's major. By a narrow vote, approval of the proposal was reversed in a mail ballot late in the spring term. CEP will investigate next year the possibility of resolving some of the most urgent issues of the present general education program, working within the existing structure.

At the winter meeting of the Academic Senate, CEP with the support of the Committee on Planning and Budget proposed rescinding the 1991 Senate resolution sponsored by the CEP-CPB Subcommittee on the Intellectual and Cultural Life of the Colleges, which at the time mandated the teaching of an extra 1-3 credit course every three years by faculty. Although the resolution was intended to increase involvement of the faculty in the intellectual life of the colleges, the data showed that fewer than half of the courses were offered in the colleges as originally intended. Given concerns raised by faculty about their ability to work with undergraduate students on independent study projects or in laboratory projects as well as workload issues for non-tenured faculty raised by the Senate's Committee on Faculty Welfare, CEP concluded that the requirement was neither working to serve the goals it was designed to serve nor was an effective use of faculty

teaching time as it has developed. The resolution to rescind was approved at the winter Senate meeting.

CEP continues to endorse the notion of 1, 2, and 3 credit courses where appropriate. There are countless examples of curricula better suited to these "mini" courses, which offer more flexibility for students not taking a full 15-credit load, e.g. for financial aid eligibility and timely graduation for transfer students.

The Committee continued its discussion of a revision of the policy and procedures to address concerns raised about violations of academic integrity and academic discipline at UCSC. After consultation with Associate Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Education Lynda Goff, the policy was endorsed by CEP to be effective fall, 1999. CEP believes that

the new policy and procedures will also address the need for more awareness by both faculty and students, as well as generate, in the form of annual reports, more information on the extent of the problem on campus.

The second year of the transition to the revised grading system proved to have substantially fewer issues than before. The Committee agreed to extend the practice for students of a one-time career exception to the deadline for selection of the letter grade option for an additional year. In doing so, CEP also made recommendations for simplification of the menus for selection of the letter grade option on TELESLUG.

The Committee discussed and approved on pedagogical grounds a few additional requests for exemptions from the letter grade option for internship/field study courses which would not de facto deny the opportunity for a GPA. In keeping with previous exemptions from the letter grade option, those for credit courses were granted on a temporary basis. A comprehensive review of courses with P/NP only grading is slated next year.

The Committee continued its drafting of a faculty handbook on grading and narrative evaluations, which contains information on the current grading system as well as a revision of information in the outdated "Guidelines for Writing Narrative Evaluations." The handbook is available at the Web Site: http://reg.ucsc.edu/nes/handbook.

Continuing discussion of concerns about the timeliness of narrative evaluations is slated for next year, particularly in light of recent studies on the decline of retention rates at UCSC.

Insufficient time prevented further discussion of CEP's draft policy on the use of undergraduates as instructional assistants. CEP continues to see the value of guidelines for this practice, much of which is taking place already within teaching practicum courses, and plans to continue discussion next year.

In its review and recommendations for succeeding academic calendars, CEP remains concerned about the timing for academic review by the colleges, in particular the lack of time between the winter and spring quarters. CEP will monitor the situation in consultation with academic preceptors.

Late in the academic year, CEP approved a new B.A. in Classical Studies, and a new B.A. in Italian Studies. A combined major in environmental studies/earth sciences was also approved.

New minors approved for fall, 1999 were in astrophysics, electronic music, theater arts,

and for fall, 2000, communication and rhetoric.

CEP approved a policy for disqualification of majors for Environmental Studies. Departments with existing policies are Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Information Systems Management, Biology, Psychobiology, Marine Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Earth Sciences, and Psychology.

Discussion of the program statements and courses for the catalog remains a large undertaking for the Committee. This year, CEP approved a new section of the catalog entitled "Environmental Sciences and Policy" which directs students to programs in several allied departments.

CEP participated in the external review of the Music Department, the Physics Department, and the Environmental Studies Department. It also reviewed the charges for the external reviews of the Community Studies Department, the Literature Department, the Science Communication Program, and the Writing Program.

CEP continued to review student petitions for substitution or waivers of general education requirements. Review of these petitions makes clear that the distinction between introduction to the discipline and topical courses in some areas is not pedagogically defensible, nor is the distinction between some lower and upper division courses. These problems will be addressed in the continuing discussion of the general education requirements.

CEP favorably endorsed the concept of team teaching as proposed by the Committee on Teaching. It also endorsed the course scheduling policy proposed by the Registrar.

CEP gratefully acknowledges the hard work and superb professionalism of Ms. Cathy Fong, who has ably staffed the committee and provided it with extraordinary continuity.

October 6, 1999