MSA Senate

In Academic Affairs tonight we discussed bills 47-28 and 47-29. 47-28 was discussed and passed without any opposition. 47-29 was discussed and tabled due to the committee members having to leave for other pressing engagements.

During committee on Tuesday we discussed our three main goals of the semester. In regards to textbooks, our chairwoman will be meeting with Dir. Pollard and Dr. Zeilinga to discuss a guaranteed buyback plan. We also discussed the possibility of a Writing Intensive Transparency Bill that would require professors to place on their syllabus rather their course, that is not listed as WI, meets the Writing Intensive standards and the steps students can take to receive WI credit through the current appellate process.

textbook-flow-chart.pdf

In Committee, we discussed and tabled Senate Bill 47-17. The meeting that we were supposed to have with Director Sherry Pollard was postponed due to an unexpected illness. We are planning on making up the meeting sometime in late January or early February. The committee is also planning on meeting with a representative from the library sometime in the new year as well. Minor details regarding the work that has been done about the American Sign Language Minor and the Nursing school were wrapped up and the Letter to the Faculty Regarding Textbooks was officially put on hold until the resumption of school.

The Academic Affairs Committee wishes everyone a Safe and Happy Holiday and eagerly looks forward to the challenges of the New Year.

Senator Ian F. Krause

The Academic Affairs committee met on Tuesday to discuss the upcoming meeting with Sherry Pollard, a director of the bookstore, on Tuesday December 4th in the Academic Affairs committee meeting. All senators are welcomed to attend the meeting that will pose pertinent questions to implementing the textbook solution. We have also decided to schedule a tentative meeting with Jim Cogswell, a library representative to discuss the option of including the library into the solution. This meeting will take place at the beginning of next semester.

Interim Chairwoman Phyllis Williams

Academic Affairs Committee met on Tuesday evening to further discuss solutions to combat the rising costs of textbooks. Ian gave a progress report about setting up a meeting with Sherry Pollard, Director of Retail Services. The meeting has been tentatively scheduled for December 4th. We also agreed to set up a meeting with a representative of the library to discuss the feasibility of incorporating their services into our solution plan.

Phyllis Williams

Interim Committee Chair

The Academic Affairs committee met on Monday  to discuss solutions to the chronic textbook problem. After reviewing some research and practices about other Universities textbook policies, we agreed on a three tier approach that seeks assistance from faculty, the bookstore and the library to aggressively combat this issue. We agreed to begin writing legislation that would require a textbook usage and/or effectiveness question to be added on all semester questionnaires. We also considered drafting legislation that would officially recognize the bookstore for their efforts to aid students by including 2 course specific calculators during Book Buyback at the conclusion of the Fall 2007 Semester. The committee also made plans to draft a list of priorities and expected dates for executing the textbook strategy.

David also gave an update on his progress on making the Sign Language Program a minor degree granting discipline at MU. Ian and I passed on a suggestion from Cabinet to contact the President of the Sign Language Club for more information on the issue.

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Dr. Jeff Zeilenga
Director Sherry Pollard

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