Please bring your October 16, 2003 Faculty Senate Agenda Attachment C &
October 16, 2003 Faculty Senate Agenda Attachment D

2003 - 04 
FACULTY SENATE
California State University, Sacramento

AGENDA
Thursday, November 6, 2003
Foothill Suite, University Union
3:00 - 5:00 p.m.
 

OPEN FORUM

CONSENT CALENDAR

CONSENT INFORMATION

The Faculty Senate recommends approval of the calendar for Summer 2004 as outlined in Attachment A.

Enrollment Management Committee
Tom Krabacher, Faculty Representative, 2005

CONSENT ACTION

Committee on Diversity and Equity
Jana Noel, At-large, 2004

Associated Students Children's Center Parent Advisory Council
Kimberly Gordon Rouse, Faculty Representative, 2004

The Faculty Senate recommends approval of the program change proposals outlined in Attachment B.

REGULAR AGENDA

SECOND READING

Background:

CONTEXT: The Academic Policies Committee reviewed existing CSUS policies dealing with academic dishonesty during the 2002-2003 academic year. This was prompted by several factors, including a brief survey of department chairs undertaken the previous year on the extent of dishonesty problems, university interest in subscribing to anti-plagiarism services, and complaints to the committee in May 2002 over the handling of a recent academic dishonesty incident. On the basis of the review, the Academic Policies Committee decided to undertake the following: (1) develop and recommend a revision of existing policies, and (2) develop and recommend a plan for the dissemination of the dishonesty policies to the CSUS community. The policy revision was completed in spring 2003 and is presented to the Senate here; development of the dissemination plan will take place this year.

RECOMMENDED POLICY: The proposed Academic Honesty Policy was developed in consultation with representatives of Associated Students, Inc. and the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs. It included a review of similar policies at a number of other CSU campuses and a meeting with a representative from the University of California, Davis to discuss the procedures in place there. The proposed policy revises and consolidates existing CSUS policies and procedures (that currently exist in several places throughout the CSUS policy manual and elsewhere) into a single policy. It contains the following elements: a statement of general principles, definitions of academic dishonesty, identification of faculty and student responsibilities, and a description of procedures, safeguards, and sanctions for handling cases of alleged dishonesty.

PROS AND CONS: Members of the Academic Policies Committee were in general agreement over the elements contained in the proposed policy with one exception: whether to adopt the statement on the “proportionality” on academic sanctions. There was disagreement on this, in that some committee members agreed that a case of cheating should be sufficient cause to fail a student for the entire course. The Committee was unable to resolve the question and agreed to send the proportionality language to the full Senate for its consideration.

RELATED ITEMS: The Academic Policies Committee also recommends to the Senate a proposed amendment (FS 03-41) to the existing policy on Grade Appeals. This amendment would make the Grade Appeals Policy consistent with the proposed Academic Honesty Policy.

On October 16, 2003, the Senate approved FS 03-40A, Academic Honesty, Policies and Procedures Regarding, Motion to Recommit.  Attachment C provides amended language for Section IV of the proposed policies and procedures concerning Instructor Evaluation and Reporting of Cheating Charges.

The Faculty Senate recommends adoption of the policies and procedures regarding academic honesty as outlined in the September 18, 2003 Faculty Senate Agenda Attachment C and Attachment C.

The Faculty Senate recommends amending the Grade Appeal procedures as follows:

(underscore = addition)

III. Appeal of grades assigned for cheating or plagiarism

Grade appeal panels shall be limited to deciding claims that grades assigned for cheating or plagiarism are grossly disproportionate to the offense and therefore arbitrary.

1. Grade appeal panels shall not try or retry charges of cheating or plagiarism when hearing grade appeals. Instead they shall be bound by the disposition of those charges made by instructors or the Office of Student Affairs under the CSUS Policies and Procedures Regarding Academic Honesty.
    
2. In any grade appeal that seeks to overturn a grade assigned for cheating or plagiarism because it is disproportionate to the offense and therefore arbitrary, the assigned grade shall be upheld unless it can be shown to be grossly disproportionate to the offense. Gross disproportionality shall be shown by reference to Sections V.A.2 and 3 of the CSUS Policies and Procedures Regarding Academic Honesty and a demonstration by the student at the discretion authorized there has been abused. Strict or close proportionality shall not be required of instructors when assigning academic sanctions for cheating or plagiarism.

FIRST READING

The Faculty Senate endorses the Academic Program Theme in the Strategic Plan as amended and recommends that it be forwarded to the Council on University Planning (October 16, 2003 Faculty Senate Agenda Attachment C).

Background:  On February 27, 2003, the Faculty Senate approved passage of FS 03-04, amending the University ARTP document.  As a result of President Donald Gerth's disapproval of FS 03-04, the Senate's Executive Committee asked the University ARTP Committee to respond to President Gerth's concerns and draft more appropriate language, which follows:

The Faculty Senate recommends amending the University ARTP document by adding a new Section 2.00 and renumbering as 2.01 the current section:

Section 2.00    Application

Unless otherwise expressly excepted, faculty unit employees and administrators shall be governed by the University ARTP Policy and the primary and secondary unit policies document consistent with it that governs the level of evaluation at which they are acting.

See October 16, 2003 Faculty Senate Agenda Attachment D for background information (President Gerth's disapproval memo; the September 16, 2003 memo from William A. Dillon, Presiding Member of the University ARTP Committee, responding to President Gerth's concerns; and the November 11, 2002 memo from William A. Dillon, Presiding Member of the University ARTP Committee, explaining the original language).  (You must have version 5.0 to successfully access this file.  Go to: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html to download the latest version.)

The Faculty Senate recommends revising the guidelines for Academic Program Reviews as described in Attachment D.

INFORMATION

1. Faculty Senate's home page:  www.csus.edu/acse, or, from the CSUS home page, click on Administration and Policy, then Administration, then Faculty Senate.
2. Actions of the 2003-2004 Faculty Senate:  http://www.csus.edu/acse/03-04_actions.htm
3. Upcoming Senate meetings: 

November 13, 2003 - SPECIAL SENATE MEETING - WASC preview and discussion November 20, 2003 - tentative November 27, 2003 - Happy Thanksgiving!

December 4, 2003 - tentative December 11, 2003 - tentative December 18, 2003 - tentative