Student Affairs Policy Committee Meeting October 5, 2011

Meeting  

October 5, 2011, 3:30 pm, Health Sciences 213

In Attendance

Dianne Chamblee              Mike Augustine

Joshua Kitchens                 Jennifer Graham

Evan Karanovich                  Dee Simms

Bruce Harshbarger             Scott Butler

Rebecca McMullen              Maxwell Pichen

Regrets

Caroline Clements             Amy Burt

Absent

Guest

Tom Miles                

1. I.               Call to Order (agenda item)

Meeting was called to order by the Chair, Dianne Chamblee, at 3:30

1. II.              Approval of Agenda (agenda item)

The agenda as was submitted to the committee for approval. The committee unanimously approved the agenda.

1. III.            Approval of 8/10/11 Minutes (agenda item)

The minutes for the 8/31/2011 were submitted for approval. The minutes were approved by the committee.

1. IV.           Member Reports 
   1. a.    Tom Miles, a guest of Evan Karanovich, was introduced to the committee. 
   2. b.    Dee Sims discussed students’ concerns regarding experiential credit. Many are hearing about it late in their academic career. There was discussion regarding possible marketing be include in freshmen seminars.  Bruce Harshbarger agreed to talk with Sara Faircloth who oversees experiential transcripts about including information on this topic in freshman seminar courses. 
   3. c.    Evan stated that he invited Tom Miles to join our discussion regarding Bobcat Vision Management and Use Guidelines. Evan reported that SGA had discussed Tail Gating and Bobcat vision prior to this meeting.  
   4. d.    Rebecca reported that she had plans to talk with her mentors about issues related to the committee. 
   5. e.    Jennifer Graham reported that Staff Council has been discussing the cross walks on campus and improving their safety.  Evan informed the committee that SGA was also looking into this.  Last semester SGA conducted a pedestrian safety study and had discussion with local and state officials requesting routes changes. He reported that any routes changes would probably take from five to ten years to implement. Dee had talked to the city planner regarding crosswalks and commented that students could request change routes.  Discussion continued that included issues of increased education on pedestrian safety and  unregulated/former cross walks. 
   6. f.      Bruce made the members aware of an issue with a disable student and use of shuttle buses. Wheelchair access appears to be appropriate but devices to assist students with other mobility impairment are not adequate.  Bruce is addressing this issue.  Dianne brought up the possibly of having nursing students examine handicap accessibility across campus. 
   7. g.    Josh Kitchens reported that there were new study spaces in LITC. Tom added that during finals the Den was turned into a study space 
   8. h.    During the committee member reports, Dee Simms reported that the student group she advised was having trouble meeting because of the change in the common meeting times. It was decided that this should be a discussion topic at our next meeting. Each member will ask their constituency as to the impact of this change in their area. The committee will discuss findings at the November meeting. 

1. V.             Old Business

a. Review of Sexual Harassment Policy

          Jennifer Graham provided an update on the committee assigned to revise the Sexual Harassment Policy. This committee is composed of Marc Cardenilli, representatives from Human Resources, the Judicial Board, and Students Affairs. The committee is charged with updating and streamlining sexual misconduct policies across campus. Their drafts are due to Marc at end of October. The committee will continue to follow their development.

Dianne reported that she had brought the concern of accessing policies to ECUS. ECUS is looking into it.

b. Initiative that supports student retention

     i. Data review – Mike Augustine

Mike Augustine presented map works data to committee. The committee discussed the following data:

Retention Rates (USG wide)

Graduation Rates (USG wide)

Map -works Survey Factors

How well did map-works identify at-risk students?

After discussing this data, the committee was asked to consider what types of initiatives would be best for us to support, specifically ones that helped students survive the sophomore slump.  Mike advised that sophomore Map Works data should be available soon.   The committee decided to review the sophomore data before further discussion.  It was suggested that we might consider inviting Mary Roberts to a future meeting to discuss possible programing.

c. Bobcat Vision Management and Use Guidelines (from SGA)

Evan Karanovich led this discussion. Tom Miles added to the discussion by giving the history of the policy and the reasoning behind it. Student Affairs is currently operating under this policy. The committee will read and discuss at next meeting.

1. VI.           New Business

The committee was charged by ECUS to select a representative for the SACS committee. Bruce Harshbarger was chosen as the SAPC representative.

1. VII.          Next Meeting (agenda item)

The next meeting will be held on November 4 at 3:30 in Health Sciences 213.

1. VIII.        Adjournment(agenda item)

Being no further business to come before the committee, the meeting was adjourned at 4:30 pm. 

                                                                        ________________________________________

                        Joshua F. Kitchens, Secretary