Programs Committee: School of Education Meeting

The Programs Committee of the School of Education has the purpose reviewing proposed changes to the coursework of the school. These proposals include new courses, programs, or revisions. The Committee can initiate courses and delegate future action. It can be reviewed by all levels but it a source of an intermediate body that reports to all of the different departments.

The most recent meeting took place on Friday, December 21st. The meeting agenda consisted of several parts.
The first was to rework the course Counseling Psychology 270-810. The proposal creates a greater range of credits (1-9) to account for summer supervision of counselors. There was little debate, because such a course would increase student options, and the credit change was approved. Hopefully, the change will be implemented by summer of 2008 to allow 1-2 credit courses to be offered.
The second proposal was to raise the minimum GPA for admission into secondary English, math, science, and social studies programs. The GPA would be 2.75 which was the initial GPA for entrance to the school before holistic entrance was considered. This increase will better the odds that graduates from the secondary program will be able to maintain the regulated GPA for graduation, while decreasing exceptions. The committee approved of the change with the standard is aimed to go into effect by the 2009 admission. World Language and Communication is likely to follow suit with an increased standard.
The final agenda task was to approve a large stack of course material for the Art Department. As a massive clean up project, several of the changes were to delete courses that had never been offered by the university, or whose specialized professors had left the university. The committee debated whether it was necessary to delete courses, and several were pulled. Other changes involved adding an additional credit to studio courses because of their large time commitment. According to the Art department, there is a large amount of student support for this change. Yet, because art education majors need to take some of these courses as prerequisites, but cannot fit so many credits into their schedules, the credit addition was made optional with an additional project to correlate with the additional credit. There were also changes to rework the names and orders of course series by certain professors. The final type of revision was to clarify the prerequisites for Art courses. The department had not used timetable and the catalogue to demonstrate enforceable prerequisites, and students were taking courses they were not yet prepared for. With clarified requirements, students will be better placed and still have the option of instructor consent to skip to higher levels. The committee looked through the syllabus of each class, and approved the course changes while pulling out those that were unprepared for complete approval because of their incomplete information. The next step is for the changes to go to the departmental board, where the revisions must be perfected to pass. The Art department hopes that the proposals will pass and that the courses can be implemented as soon as possible. The change requires that timetable also make appropriate alterations so that the registration of Fall 2008 will prove easier for students interested in art. If you have any questions on the specific course changes, or need clarification on the reasons, just post it here and I'll be happy to respond.
The meeting was then adjourned and all were sent off for a wonderful winter break. Happy Holidays everyone!

Chancellor Search and Screen

ASM will select two students to serve on the Search and Screen Committee to select the new Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin - Madison. ASM (Associated Students of Madison) is the official student government of UW-Madison. The Search and Screen will be a significant time commitment beginning at the very start of the Spring semester. It will conclude when the new Chancellor is selected.

If you are interested in applying, prepare a one page, maximum, essay that addresses (a) why you feel you would be a good representative of students on the committee and (b) what qualities or attributes you think are essential for the new Chancellor to have. Also make sure to include your phone number, year in school, and program.

Send the essay as an attachment to an email to Jeff Wright (jawright2@wisc.edu) and Travis Weller (asmsharedgov@gmail.com). You may also attach a one page, maximum, resume (optional).

The deadline to apply is noon, Friday, Jan. 18. Late applications will not be considered.

From the applications, the ASM Chair and the Chair of ASM Shared Governance will select a small number of people to interview. The interview will take place between 5pm and 6pm, Tuesday, Jan. 22, Memorial Union TITU. The interview will occur in front of the entire Shared Governance Committee. This is the only time that interviews will be held. If you are selected for an interview but cannot make the interview time, your application essay will be read aloud to the Shared Governance Committee. The Shared Governance Committee will then vote to select the two student representatives.

The first meeting of the Chancellor Search and Screen will be Friday, Jan. 25 from 2pm to 4pm. If you cannot make that meeting, you are strongly discouraged from applying. Please indicate in your essay whether you are able to attend this first meeting.

If you have any questions, email Travis Weller.

Thanks!

Dean of Students Advisory Board - 12/18/07

It was a sparsely-attended meeting this afternoon, due to finals, but there was still a lot of great discussion.

RSO Alchol Policy.
Renee Alfano of the Student Organization Office presented on the proposals for a modified RSO alcohol policy. The goal is to increase safety while lowering liability for the individual leaders of the organizations, and new broad-based committee will submit recommendations to the Committee on Student Organizations which will then submit the policy to the Dean of Students and ultimately the Chancellor's Office. Renee stressed that the changes are not "about cutting out alcohol at [student org] events" but rather about proactivity. I want to be as thorough about this part of the meeting as possible, because I know there are a lot of questions and possibly misconceptions about it. Please spread the word!

A major factor in the new proposed policy is the definition of "event." A disclaimer of "this is not an official event" on an official e-mail to the official student org's listserv does not count as abiding by the policy. Below are some questions that may be asked to determine if a gathering of students in a student org is an event or not (and thus required to abide by the alcohol policy or not):
- Was the event publicized in any fashion with the student group's name?
- Were official lines of communication used to promote/publicize the event?
- Was the event announced at meetings as a part of an official order of business?
- Were organizational finances used to support the event?
- Did the leadership of the organization act in an official organizational capacity to promote/publicize the event?
- Was the event held in reserved University facilities?
- Were all members of the organization invited to the event regardless of age?

Current policy:
1. Student groups that serve or permit possession of alcoholic beverages at student group functions, on or off campus, may be disciplined if violations of alcoholic beverage laws or of university regulations occur.
2. It is the responsibility of the student group to assign people in the group to create a system to identify and confront underage drinking, security issues, and over intoxication (If the event is at a 3rd party vendor, the group must work with the establishment to insure [sic] systems are in place.
3. Cup parties or anything similar are not allowed at unlicensed facilities.
4. Advertising on campus or advertising using University resources may not include specific reference to alcohol as a part of the event. References to alcohol are prohibited in either printed word or graphic image. [my note: This includes such phrases as "cash bar" and "18 to enter, 21 to drink." This particular item is being redefined for clarity and consistency.]

Proposed additional policies: draft
5. The use of "common containers of beer" (ie: kegs, party balls, etc.) may not be used except at third part vendors or the organization has the insurance necessary to allow the use of common containers of beer.
6. No bulk collective home-made drinks allowed.
7. Events, including general or executive board meetings may occur at a liquor licensed establishment only if everyone is 21 years of age or older or the establishment is listed as a Restaurant or Under 21 (CV) licensed establishment.
8. Any events or activities where consumption of alcohol at the event is the purpose, consequence, or reward of the activity are prohibited. [my note: drinking games]

Recommendations: draft
9. Reasonable quantities of non-salty snacks relative to the size of your group should be provided.
10. Non-alcoholic beverages (besides water) should be available and be less expensive than alocholic beverages and comparable in size. Non-alcoholic beverages should be provided at all times that alcohol is served.
11. It is recommended that no consumption of alcoholic beverages at general or executive board meetings occur unless everyone is 21 years of age or older.



Parental Involvement (Presentation by Associate Dean Kevin Helmkamp)
- FERPA was amended in 2005 to allow for the reporting of certain incidents (alcohol, drugs, sexual assault) to parents without breaking the privacy act.
- the University will contact parents when one or more of the following occurs:
- underage students are transported to detox for alcohol and drugs (the majority of parental notifications)
- suicide attempts or thoughts that present a danger to self, others, or a disruption of the living environment (particularly in University Housing) -- this must be actual behavior, not mental illness
- students are placed on probation for drug/alcohol concerns and before they are suspended
- students pose a risk to the health and safety of themselves and/or others
- either UW Housing ResLife staff or the Assistant Deans of Students/ SAJA can make contact with parents
- students are encouraged to make the initial contact with parents

- the highest number of detox transports up to this date EVER has been in this semester
- the University is hesitant to mandate counseling (but may choose to require alcohol assessments and education)

"I'm tired of it [the alcohol problem], but I still have to be an educator." - Kevin Helmkamp, explaining why harsh discipline is not always the best answer.


Listening Sessions (the Dean's office talking to groups on campus)
- Students with disabilities: would like to see more accomodations for an increased ability to participate in extracurriculars and also more education for RSOs in how to put on accessible events (and the funds to do so)
- Veterans: generally feel welcome on campus but also desire to talk about their experience and connect socially
- Seg Fee forum: main questions were "Why now?" and "What are the implications" of the change

- future listening sessions may include athletes, transfer students, nontraditional/returning students, etc.



If you have any questions about the drafted alcohol policy (which I have posted in full here), please contact Renee Alfano at the SOO. Any other questions, feel free to ask them here.

Labor Licensing Policy Committee December Meeting

We had our LLPC meeting today. We got an update from the UW Bookstore guys about the new fair trade line they've been carrying. It has been very successful. They have sold more in a month than they require a line to sell in a year in order to keep purchasing it. They are still trying to diversify their fair trade clothes with other brands such as Fair Indigo, but as of right now they only have the one brand. Next we got an update on the situation at the New Era Cap Company distribution center in Mobile, Alabama. They still aren't letting the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) conduct their investigation, which violates our contract with them, so the administration has decided that if the WRC isn't granted access to the factory by Wednesday 12/19, we will send a breach of contract letter to New Era. The committee unanimously supported this as well as publicizing our termination of the contract if it comes down to that. Next we talked about the Hermosa situation. Nothing has really changed for the workers in a long time, and we are getting different stories from Gregg Nebel (adidas bigshot) and Scott Nova (executive director of the WRC), but the committee decided that it is not our job to investigate these matters, that is what he pay the WRC to do, so we should trust what they say and the recommendations they make, and the burden of proof is on adidas. We decided that it would be beneficial to invite both Gregg Nebel and Scott Nova to our next meeting (January 25), to clear some things up, so if anyone wants to come show support, it would be appreciated. I don't know for sure if they will be able to make it or what time the meeting would be, but I'll keep everyone updated. We thought that the end of January would be a good time for them to come because there are several things that will hopefully be resolved or have progress by then. The Fair Labor Association (FLA) hired an ombudsman to oversee hiring practices at nearby factories, and that is supposed to be taking place in January. Also (this is unrelated to the specific case), I think we should hopefully be getting the Department of Justice letter about the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP) back around the end of January, so it would be nice to have them here around that time. The DSP would lead to systemic change and worker empowerment, so it's really exciting, and hopefully it will be able to be implemented soon after we get the DoJ letter back, if it is favorable. The codes of conduct are also being looked at by a committee of universities and the CLC. This should take about 6 months, I think, and suggestions will be brought to us. I think that's about it. If anyone has any questions, let me know.

Information Technology Committee: Students and the RIAA

One of the issues that we’re constantly discussing on the Information Technology Committee is the attack on students by the Recording Industry Association of America, or RIAA. The RIAA employs a small army to search the large public file sharing networks to find people sharing music which the RIAA claims a copyright. For many years, the RIAA would send a “Cease and Desist” letter to the people it believed to be violating their copyright, or if it could not identify the person directly it would send the letter to the ISP that person used to connect to the Internet, such as Charter, TDS, or for many students, the UW. A new twist emerged this past spring, with the deliberate targeting of file sharers on college campuses and a significant upping of the ante. The Cease and Desist letters became “Pre-settlement notices,” threatening the student with a lawsuit unless they accepted an offer to settle before the lawsuit was filed. For most people, this offer was between $3000 and $4000 dollars. These “Pre-settlement notices” have, as far as anyone can tell, only gone to people using college networks, and have completely ignored people on commercial networks, such as home cable modem or DSL users. The RIAA has had a pattern of sending notices to about 20 universities a month, to about 500 students in each batch. 16 UW-Madison students received letters in March of 2007, and another 28 in September. No UW student was included in the October, November, or December batch. The UW believes most students who receive the letters settle, rather than go through the time and expense of a court battle.

As students at a research institution, we are acutely aware of the need for respect of the intellectual and artistic creations of others. We want to have a larger conversation about copyrights. It is especially important now to all students. A generation ago, the best a senior thesis could hope for was actually getting on a library shelf, and not just in the bottom of a pile in a professor’s office. Now our creations have the ability to be made available and locatable to the entire world with ease. The RIAA’s insistence on discussing copyright only as “stealing music” has made an education campaign about copyright more difficult, and drowns out many of the other important topics we need to discuss. We are going to have that conversation, and we’re going to do it on our terms, not the RIAA’s.

Our main goal right now is increase student awareness about the RIAA’s targeting of students. The message is going to be kept simple:

The RIAA is out to get you, if you’re not sure if you’ve placed yourself at risk, here’s who can answer your questions.

That’s it. We’ll have a larger conversation about copyrights later. We want students to understand the risk they’re placing themselves under, and let them make their own decisions. We are convinced that some of the people who have received pre-settlement notices had no idea they were doing anything that could get them involved in a lawsuit.

On Friday, December 14^th at 9AM we’ll be meeting in room 3207 of Computer Sciences to hash out the exact wording of the message. The meeting will be majority students, along with a few members of DoIT staff and maybe a representative from the Dean of Students office. We hope that we can craft an effective message for students. ResNet users will all see the message when they return from winter break, possibly along with the wider campus. We do not expect our message will magically convince all students to stop infringing on copyrighted music, but we hope that we get to a point where no student is surprised if they get a pre-settlement notice.

Ron Kraemer, the Vice Provost for Information Technology and Campus Chief Information Officer, and his staff have put together a good page about the RIAA response on campus here. You may also be interested in this article from the Badger Herald about a student who settled with the RIAA.

If you have suggestions for the message, please comment, or come to our Friday morning meeting. (Yes, it’s early, and the last day of classes, but we’re trying to get this done before break)

Campus Transportation Committee Report

At the Campus Transportation Committee meeting last Friday, we mostly discussed the problem of snow removal. I had encouraged people to email me their concerns about the snow, accessibility concerns on sidewalks and with getting on and off buses, and I passed these letters on in advance to the Chairs of both the Bike/Ped Committee and the Campus Transportation Committee. We also talked about concerns brought up at previous meetings regarding Transportation Services over-selling permits in ramps, particularly in Grainger. Michael (my fellow student on the committee) talked about the possibility of doing a study on the efficiency of bus routes 80 and 85 on campus. Michael and I also have concerns with Transportation Services converting Wisconsin Department of Transportation handicapped parking spots to UW Handicapped parking spots where people have to apply and pay for a regular parking spot on campus. This seems to go against creating a welcoming climate for everyone, and it is discriminatory against students because students cannot generally apply for parking on Campus.

Following is a letter I sent this weekend. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know. Thanks, Jo.

Date: Sat, 08 Dec 2007 10:46:26 -0600
To: Robert Meyer <rrm@cs.wisc.edu>, Don Waller <dmwaller@wisc.edu>, "LUNSWAY, Lance" <LLUNSWAY@fpm.wisc.edu>
From: "J. Matzner" <matzner@cae.wisc.edu>
Subject: Regarding Statement on Campus Snow Clearance Efforts
Cc: "INGHAM, STEVEN C" <SCINGHAM@FACSTAFF.WISC.EDU>, "PUDLOSKI, STEPHEN T" <PUDLOSKI@ENGR.WISC.EDU>

Dear Bob, Don, and Lance,

I don't know if you had the opportunity to read the press release on the Wisc.edu homepage that is titled, "Statement on campus snow clearance efforts" that was released yesterday. Here is the link in case you have not seen it. http://www.news.wisc.edu/14544

The article is most disappointing. It is filled with excuses as to why they did not do their job.
As Steve Pudloski said in the Campus Transportation meeting yesterday, the Public Works Commissioner in Milwaukee apologized to their citizens, http://www.jsonline.com/watch/?watch=1&date=12/4/2007&id=32630. Steve also said that the person in charge of streets for Madison apologized as well. Steve spoke to the poor choices made by the people in charge, as he is an engineer with training in this area.

Mr. Harrod does not apologize in his press release. Not once does Mr. Harrod even say that they've learned from this experience or how they will be sure this does not happen again. As many of us felt at the Campus Transportation Committee meeting yesterday, the entire campus has struggled with budget cuts, and budget cuts, along with the other excuses stated in Harrod's press release is not and should not be a plan to keep us safe.

Maybe John Harrod, director of Physical Plant, could be invited to our next Campus Transportation Meeting and we could talk to him before we make recommendations for improvements. We could also invite the Bike/Ped Committee because this committee also has expressed major concerns and should be involved (I know Lance had concerns of overlap between the two committees). Don Waller and I believe that an ombudsman/ombudswoman (or even a couple, as Lance pointed out this is an overwhelming job for one person) is greatly needed on this vast and decentralized campus and could possibly be part of the solution.

Transportation Services encourages everyone on campus to take the bus. Even in our discussions regarding issues for handicapped parking spots, etc, Transportation Services has maintained that handicapped people must pay to park or take the bus just like everyone else. In this current system, though, where people were trudging through and falling numerous times to persevere to their destination, this was not even an option for folks with mobility concerns. It seems that if Transportation Services designs it's solution for campus congestion around bus transportation, then Transportation Services must ensure a better response for all the University community that depends on the bus system. That includes better coordination with all of it's partners, contractors and Madison Metro included.

If this is not possible, then maybe the University will need to close more often in order to handle the snow and give the snow removal crews time to make the campus safe. It is my understanding that the University does not like to close because it must pay everyone for a full day of work, greatly adding to the expense. This may not be the case though. I think this is an option that we did not consider in our meeting yesterday that should have been brought up as a possible option. Since the Chancellor is responsible for determining if, for the safety and welfare of students and staff, classes will be postponed or some services suspended due to inclement weather, I think Chancellor Wiley should also be invited to our next meeting along with Mr. Harrod so we can get a better understanding of the overall picture.

All of what I have discussed above is a very complicated issue, and clearly, the current status quo is unacceptable. I believe this is a situation where the Campus Transportation Committee and the Bike/Ped Committee should intervene and assist other units in coordinating a proper response. We have the Shared Governance authority to oversee this and our effort would be invaluable to campus.

Sincerely,
Jo

Capital Neighborhoods October Meeting

Proposed Light Bulb Ordinance

• This would require all light bulbs to be energy efficient


• Concern that it would cause problems in historis buildings with vintage lighting fixtures


• Decided that those interested shoudl contact their alderperson

CNI will be taking part in the Downtown Plan come April. They want to become a part of it, not just react to it.

Parking Sub-Committee

• They are studying UW's approach to parking


• UW is currently swithching over to more of an "I-Pass" system that Illinios uses. It will conserve over 10,000 gals of gas per year in idling time. They are also switching in flourescent lighting.


• The committee is looking to take UW's approach nd apply it to the city in order to have friendly, multi-use, underground parking ramps.


• Any suggestions or interest in getting involved can be sent to Eugene Devitt at eugenedevitt@msn.com

MEETING WITH THE MAYOR DEC. 18th

• Please e-mail Jess Pavlic (jpavlic@wisc.edu) with any suggestions for relevant topics to be brought up at this meeting.

State/Langdon Report

• Hillel, which is scheduled to renovate next year, ran into difficulties with University Hotel. Hillel will be bringing their concerns to the Plan Commission at their next meeting to resolve the space issue.