Faculty senate voted to recommend to the administration the elimination of interterms on the basis of the number of students enrolled Tuesday at its meeting.
Despite three negative votes, the motion, presented by Bruce Anderson, chair of the educational programming committee, passed with a majority.
When explaining the motion, Anderson said the university has one-third more interterms this year than in the past.
“Why don’t we use as a determinant to tearing down these courses student enrollment,” he said. “Students get the widest range possible that way.”
Rob Flaherty, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said by using this method the courses with the fewest enrollment numbers will be canceled.
“It will depend on what we can afford and the bottom however many will get chopped off,” he said.
Professor of Chemistry Gary Giachino said he’s concerned enrollment numbers may not reflect the quality of the course, with easy courses attracting many students while a high-quality course may only have a few students.
“I have a problem with the assumption bigger is better,” he said.
In other business, new courses and interterm courses were also approved, with new interterm courses including Godspell taught by Associate Professor of Music Susan Buehler and A Blogger's View taught by Dave Bostwick, assistant professor of mass media and communication.<br/>Film interterms this year include At the Movies: Classic Films, taught by Lisa Johnston, assistant dean for student academic services, and one of the three language classes is Italian taught by Associate Professor of English Tracy Floreani.Film interterms this year include At the Movies: Classic Films, taught by Lisa Johnston, assistant dean for student academic services, and one of the three language classes is Italian taught by Associate Professor of English Tracy Floreani.
Film interterms this year include At the Movies: Classic Films, taught by Lisa Johnston, assistant dean for student academic services, and one of the three language classes is Italian taught by Associate Professor of English Tracy Floreani.
Floreani was also re-elected as chair of faculty senate.
The election was a matter of old business after no faculty member accepted a nomination at last month’s meeting. Bruce Woodruff, associate professor of theater, and Ryan Beasley, associate professor of political science, were also nominated for the position. Floreani was elected with 11 of 21 votes.
Beasley also gave an overview of the General Education Task Force committee report, including that a search for a general education director is planned for this fall.