At the Dec. 8 Faculty Senate meeting, Provost Mittie Nimocks Den Herder distributed the document “Initial Proposal for Changes to General Education” addressed to Chancellor Dennis Shields, the document contains a list of ten budget recommendations and seven assumptions that the recommendations are based on.

Mathematics professor James Swenson questioned whether the chancellor has the power to determine curriculum. Wisconsin State Statute 36.09.3.a states, “Subject to board policy the chancellors of the institutions in consultation with their faculties shall be responsible for designing curricula and setting degree requirements; determining academic standards and establishing grading systems.”

As for faculty, 36.09.4 states, “The faculty of each institution […] shall have the primary responsibility for advising the chancellor regarding academic and education activities and faculty personnel matters.”

In Article III, Section Four of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Employee Handbook, the University Undergraduate Curriculum Commission “determines general course requirements for all students.”

Three of Den Herder’s recommendations differ significantly from Faculty Senate’s. For example, Den Herder recommendations include continuing the First Year Experience courses, while Faculty Senate recommended to require it only for students with ACT scores lower than 22.

Den Herder’s recommendations also call for eliminating the foreign language requirement, which generated an objection from foreign language Professor Ray Spoto.

“Did anybody think of diversity or are we just going to talk about diversity?” Spoto said. Den Herder said that diversity can be defined in a number of ways. “You don’t get diversity without foreign language,” Spoto said.

“I think training in foreign languages is one of the things we can offer our students in terms of writing issues. I didn’t really learn to speak English until I learned to speak a foreign language and I think most of us can say the same,” Swenson said.

According to Den Herder’s document, eliminating the foreign language requirement would result in a savings of $36,000 to $72,000.

Den Herder also recommends eliminating the requirement that a second course in humanities, history or social sciences be above the 1000 level. The change is intended to “simplify” requirements, reduce the degree program change form’s paperwork and allow more high school AP courses to count for credit. The change is also expected to result in a savings of $10,800 according to the document.

Among other agenda items, Faculty Senate also passed a motion to approve a new major in the department of education which would replace one that has been under-enrolled, heard a report from Todd Carothers, Chair of the Academic Standards Committee. Carothers discussed a memorandum from the American Association of University Professors, which concerns lay-off and tenure policy proposals.

At the end of the meeting, Faculty Senate passed a motion to meet at 2 p.m. on Dec. 22.

Final budget reduction decisions are expected to be made by the chancellor in Jan. 2016.

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