2003-2004 FACULTY SENATE
OF
California State University, Sacramento

Minutes
April 22, 2004

ROLL CALL [+ indicates alternate]

Selection Committee, Associate Dean, Graduate Studies
Rob Wassmer, Public Policy and Administration
Greg Wheeler, Geology
Margaret Cleek, Organizational Behavior and Environment

Carried unanimously.

General Education Policies/Graduation Requirements Committee
Paul Besaw, At-large, 2007

Carried unanimously.

Carried unanimously.

Background:  At the March 25, 2004 Faculty Senate meeting, FS 04-18A was approved, dividing FS 04-18/GEP/GRC, Ex. into two parts:  1) meeting the requirement before enrolling at CSUS 2) and meeting the requirement after enrolling at CSUS.  The Senate approved FS 04-18B, which changed from the completion of the fourth year of high school foreign language to the completion of the third year of high school foreign language a student needs to take to satisfy the requirement before enrolling at CSUS.  FS 04-18B also changed the minimum grade students need to earn in order to satisfy the requirement from a "C" to a "C-".

The Senate also approved FS 04-18C, which recommitted the remainder of the original motion back to the Executive Committee so that the remaining items, the areas in which a student can test out and the number of semesters of college-level coursework required to satisfy the requirement, could be reorganized.

The Faculty Senate recommends amending the Foreign Language Graduation Requirement as follows:

All students are required to meet the CSUS foreign language graduation requirement for the baccalaureate degree. Students must fulfill the requirement in a manner equivalent to successful completion of two semesters of a college level foreign language or American Sign Language (with a “C‑” or better).

The current policy requires fulfilling the requirement in a manner equivalent to successful completion of three semesters of a college level foreign language or American Sign Language (with a “C‑” or better).

Carried (hand vote:  Yes = 24; no = 16).

Background:  As a result of the adoption of the foreign language graduation requirement learning goals, the testing opportunities which students may choose to meet this graduation requirement should be enlarged to reflect the variety of ways in which students may demonstrate their language skills and their achievement of the learning goals. The learning goals focus on communication and cultural awareness, and do not emphasize literacy in a foreign language. Additionally, American Sign Language was not among the choices when the graduation requirement was originally conceived and no testing option for ASL was included in the implementation of the original policy.

The Faculty Senate recommends the following amendment:

If the CSUS foreign language graduation requirement has not been met prior to CSUS enrollment, students may satisfy the requirement by passing tests in one of the following pairs of skills: reading and writing, listening and speaking, reading and speaking, or writing and listening, or the ASL equivalents; at a level consistent with the foreign language requirement policy.

Currently, the option available to students requires passing tests in two of these four skills with one of the tests in either reading or writing.

Carried.

Having reached the hour of adjournment, the following items will receive a second reading on April 29th:

The following items will receive a first reading at the April 29th meeting:

INFORMATION

1. California State University, Sacramento Mission Statement Draft
2. Broad Principles for Budget Reductions, CUP Planning Committee
3. 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.
4. Actions of the 2003-2004 Faculty Senate:  http://www.csus.edu/acse/03-04_actions.htm
5. Upcoming Senate meetings: 

April 29, 2004 - 3:00-3:30: election of 2004-2005 Senate Officers; 3:30-5:00: 2003-2004 Senate meets Tuesday, May 4, 2004 - Outstanding Community Service and Lifetime Achievement Awards Reception

May 6, 2004 - no meeting--Outstanding Teaching and Service Awards Reception May 13, 2004 - Senate meets

The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

*Presidential approval requested.