Seven senators and three faculty members met in the small auditorium of Brooks City-Base Campus. The senate previously decided to hold alternating meetings at Main Campus Building and Brooks Campus to accommodate faculty at both campuses. Dr. Tracy Hurley, head of the School of Business, was present in the place of Provost Brent Snow.
Jim Jurica and Vicky Elias were on the senate’s agenda to discuss the timing of capped enrollment, but were not present. Megan Wise de Valdez, senate president-elect and biology professor, presented the concern in their place.
Wise said in an email Feb. 6 that the faculty members were not fully informed of administrators’ plan, but Hurley clarified the issue in the meeting.
Wise said faculty expressed concern “that the situation of upping the cap at the last minute was not ideal because it leaves us vulnerable to not having enough faculty to cover the extra sections that might result.”
Hurley explained that the plan was to raise the enrollment cap to 50 students for online classes and then split the section into two.
In a phone interview Feb. 3, Snow explained that online classes were raised to a 50-student cap, “so we can capture as many students who wanted to take that online course.”
He said there isn’t an issue with capping enrollment for face-to-face classes, and those classes are capped based on the classroom space, adding that most classrooms at Main Campus Building hold 36 students.
Snow said he and Ferrier “wanted to make sure that this semester, students who were accepted to the University had a class to go to.”
If the online course reaches 50, Snow said the class is split in two. He added that the department chair would decide whether the two online classes would be taught by the same instructor or another instructor.
In the meeting, Hurley explained the reasoning for raising the cap: This fiscal year, the University was primarily funded by a tuition revenue bond. The funds, determined by the state’s tuition formula funding model, is based on enrollment, which allowed this University to receive an increase of $5 or 6 million in the budget. She added that as programs expand in the start-up environment, enrollment increases.
“I don’t think this is a good idea at this time,” Hurley said.
Hurley advised that there are two options — To offer multiple sections of a class and cancel the classes that don’t make, or to raise the cap of enrollment and split the class in two.
“We’ve gone in both directions,” she said. “The latter is better for students.”
She explained that the reason students cannot be added to an online class is “collateral damage on Blackboard.”
Blackboard, the program that students use to execute online and hybrid classwork, won’t allow sections to be combined because of “some glitch in Banner.”
Snow commented that by splitting the online classes, it caused a problem in Banner, but said, “I think we’ve got them all worked out in the classes.”
Hurley said there are administrators and employees working to determine the cause, but said it’s an “unintended consequence.”
Ed Westermann, visiting assistant professor of history, presented the idea to add a plus or minus to final grades. He said it would allow more students to participate in honor societies, spark motivation and differentiate performance in the classroom.
There is a 10 percent gap when looking at a grade of B and C, Westermann said.
In a phone interview Feb. 6, he explained that it becomes difficult to make a higher grade in a class based on the final exam when grading is determined with whole letter grades. But if students saw a modified system, that includes a plus or minus, students may be motivated to score higher on a final exam to get a higher letter grade in the class.
For example, in the meeting he said he remembered students saying, “Well, all I need is a 65 to get a B in the class.” But added if the University offers a B plus availability, students would have to get an 83 on the final exam.
“It impacts GPA and it impacts performance,” he said. “We will have a value for higher achievers.”
Also, students would have a better chance of eligibility for honor societies. If a student receives a B plus, they are more likely to be eligible for honors because it would increase the grade point average. Westermann said the GPA for a B is 3.0, but a B plus would equate to about 3.25.
He said he’s taught at universities that have used the modified grading. He also said he researched other universities who currently utilize it, including St. Mary’s University, Trinity University, the University of Texas at San Antonio and Austin. He said Texas A&M-College Station, Commerce and Kingsville do not use this grading policy.
Westermann recommended A-/B+/ B-, C+/C- system, adding that there is flexibility in how the system is modified.
Wise suggested the senate discuss how they want to modify and then create a proposal to bring to the administration, and whether the senate would need to submit the proposal to the A&M-System.
Based on Westermann’s research that several members of the Texas A&M System, including Commerce, Kingsville and College Station, did not use the modified grading system, Wise raised the question of whether it was an A&M-System policy, but Hurley said she doubted it would be.
The more immediate concern she said, was that A&M-San Antonio is set up through the Kingsville Banner system, which does not use the modified grading system. That, she said, could be a technical prevention towards any recommendation the senate reached.
“We should have our own banner implementation within two years,” she said. For now, Hurley said the University is “handcuffed by Banner.”
Kendrick recommended to get the ball moving so that when the University does have its own Banner system, the senate would be prepared to move forward.
Westermann agreed. “If the consensus is that this is the right thing to do, then I think we push it forward…with positive momentum.”
Hurley said if the recommendation is approved, the programmers of the University’s banner system can have that information before they start.
Senators favored the idea and Wittenbach recommmended to form an investigative group. Chaired by Westermann, the group includes Kendrick and business Professor Pablo Calafiore, who Hurley recommended.
The committee will create an explanatory document of the modified grading system and research if it is an A&M-System policy. Then, they will present the information at the next senate meeting. Per President Richard Green’s request, the senate put the idea forward to circulate the document through a faculty filter, using survey monkey to determine a faculty vote.
“It’s a big change,” Green said of the grading system change, adding that he’d be concerned if the senate made a decision without faculty input.
Wise added that faculty is encouraged to attend senate meetings to voice input. “Part of it is coming to the meetings,” she said.
Christina Suthammanont, assistant professor in the School of Arts and Sciences, who was to discuss the role of faculty advising of students, requested to be removed from the agenda without reason.
The next agenda item, discussion of system of faculty awards and recognition, reserved for Sean Kearney, assistant professor in the School of Education, was not in attendance. Green said the senate would table the item for the next meeting.
The final item was a demonstration of the Faculty Senate Intranet site. Green said because most in attendance were already familiar with the site, a full overview was not necessary.
The next senate meeting will be at noon March 1 in Room 204/207 of Main Campus.
