The ninth Faculty Senate meeting of this semester was held on Oct. 8 over Zoom.
A resolution was introduced regarding the Class Schedule tool by Steve Shook, a professor from the College of Natural Resources.
The resolution states that the Office of Registrar has told faculty and staff that they intend to stop the publication of online Class Schedule tool and provide information through the Banner Class Search tool.
The faculty senate recommended that the Office of Registrar suspend this and keep the Class Schedule program.
“It’s a productivity eroding process to use the Class Search tool,” Shook said.
Shook stated that advisors spend a lot more time on the Class Search tool rather than the Class Schedule. He also stated that more advisors and staff are familiar with Class Schedule, and he believes that it will cause low morale if Class Search tool replaces the Class Schedule tool.
Taylor Raney, the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, voiced his opposition to the resolution and is in favor of using the Class Search tool.
“The old system is antiquated in such a way that it requires a whole lot of staff time to keep that thing running,” Raney said. “We have this new system that is much more nimble and user friendly once folks get to know it. I’m confident that it is the right move.”
This resolution will continue being discussed next week.
Two new certificates have been introduced that will be available to students next year.
Florian Justwan, the Chair of Politics and Philosophy, brought forward the Politics and Law undergraduate certificate.
“Essentially what it does is it takes all the classes that students can take in our curriculum and focus on the intersection of politics and law,” Justwan said. “These are not classes that students automatically take. We want students to be more purposeful in the classes that they are taking.”
This was passed with 19-1 votes.
Michael McGriff, the Co-Director of the Creative Writing Program, introduced a new certificate in Creative Writing for undergraduates. This was passed with a unanimous vote.