Annual Reports
Faculty Committee on Academic Standards, Admission, and Financial Aid

Faculty Committee on Academic Standards, Admission, and Financial Aid

Academic Year 2022-2023

2022-2023 Committee Members: Christine Byrum (Committee Chair; Biology), Christophe Boucher (History), Paige Bressler (Accoun'ng), John Broome (Student Representative), Lynn Cherry (Communication), Jim Deavor (Chemistry), Allison Foley (Anthropology), Kayla Kipps (Library).

Ex-Oﬃcio: Jess Zuber (Center for Academic Performance and Persistence or CAPP), Patrick Ramsay (CAPP), Lauren Hughes (CAPP)

Activities of the Committee:

Discussed and voted on ﬁnal decisions for 5 late withdrawal petition appeals (2 approved, 3 denied) and 6 senior coursework elsewhere persons (3 approved, 3 denied).
Unanimously approved revisions suggested by 2021/2022 FCAS committee members to the “Rules of the Road” document (provides guidelines for evaluating senior coursework elsewhere petitions and late withdrawal petitions). Changes were made to language in the senior coursework elsewhere form to streamline the process of applying. The sentence “I also understand that it may take several weeks for my appeal to be reviewed by FCAS or the Provost; and that once reviewed, my appeal may be denied by FCAS or the Provost.” was added to the Senior Pe''on form as recommended by Dawn Bare (Oﬃce of the Registrar, Transfer Center Student Services).
On January 23, 2023 the committee voted unanimously to allow the temporary Test Optional Policy to become a permanent policy for admissions at College of Charleston. On February 7, 2023, Christine Byrum presented the motion at Faculty Senate, and on March 20, 2023, the Faculty Senate voted to accept the Test Optional Policy as a permanent policy at the College of Charleston. Senate members also requested that the College work with the Math Department to oﬀer resources to help with math placement since this math placement data will be lost for students choosing to apply for admissions without standardized tests.
Discussed the feasibility of extending Thanksgiving break. Mark Del Mastro (Associate Provost), Aimée Pfeifer (Registrar’s Oﬃce), and Thomas Spade (Academic Planning Committee Chair) shared their perspectives and pointed out that this could complicate orientation schedules, faculty contract start dates, oﬀ-campus lease start dates, lab scheduling, and convocation scheduling. It could also interfere with getting ﬁnal grades out in a 'timely manner and could cause the winter commencement to impinge on the winter holiday break. Ideas discussed at the FCAS meeting will be brought to the Academic Calendar Committee.
On February 20, 2023, Jess Zuber (CAPP) and Chris Korey (Associate Provost) brought a proposal from their ad hoc committee which recommended 6 policy changes/updates to the Academic Dismissal and Probation Policies. They discussed these modiﬁcations with FCAS committee members and incorporated the suggestions. Each of the 6 proposed changes/updates was considered separately by the FCAS committee and all garnered enough committee support to pass based on majority rule. Christine Byrum, Chris Korey, and Jess Zuber shared the proposal with the Deans and Chairs. After receiving feedback, the proposal was again presented to the FCAS committee (which approved the minor modiﬁcations) and then it was presented to the Faculty Senate (April 5, 2023). The proposal was unanimously approved by the Faculty Senate with the friendly amendment that a student must “meet with their CAPP advisor” instead of stating that the student “must schedule a meeting with their CAPP advisor.”
On February 20, 2023, Mark del Mastro (Associate Provost) presented a proposal to amend the Dean’s List/President’s List Policies, making required GPA values for these awards more comparable to those at area colleges such as Clemson, USC, The Citadel, Coastal Carolina, and Elon. After a short discussion, the committee voted unanimously to support the proposed policies. Christine Byrum shared this proposal with Deans and Chairs and after receiving feedback, the new version was approved by FCAS and then presented to the Faculty Senate on April 5, 2023. The Faculty Senate unanimously approved the proposal with the friendly amendment that the policy state “semester GPA” requirements rather than stating “GPA” requirements. This new policy will take effect beginning Fall 2023.

Considerations for Incoming Committee Members:

On March 20, 2023, William Veal proposed revisions to the Final Examination Policy in the Undergraduate Catalog which would revive language previously included in the ﬁnal examination policy, and this language would also be included on the Final Exam Change Request Form. This would help students who are unaware that they can apply to reschedule exams if they have 3 or more within a 24-hour period. William Veal also questioned whether length of the ﬁnal exams should be returned to a 3-hour period (rather than the shortened period adopted during the pandemic). He will contact the Registrar’s Oﬃce and the Provost’s Oﬃce to see if they have data from prior semesters to determine whether students perform better if the ﬁnal exam period is 3 hours. The FCAS committee should revisit this issue in Fall 2023.

2023-2024 Committee members: Ricard Vinas de Puig (Incoming Committee Chair, Hispanic Studies), Christine Byrum (Biology), Lynn Cherry (Communication), Jim Deavor (Chemistry), Lynne Ford (Political Science), Tara Prakash (Art and Architectural History), Susan Rozzi (Health and Human Performance)