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Faculty Senate postpones decision on UDWPE

Smoking policy unanimously supported

The Upper Division Writing Proficiency Exam will remain a requirement for UA students - at least for now.

"It would be premature to eliminate (the UDWPE)," said Jerry Hogle, faculty chair.

At the March Faculty Senate meeting, it was suggested the Faculty Senate vote to remove the requirement that students take the upper-division writing assessment.

The Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee then reviewed whether it was necessary to have an UDWPE.

After a full Senate discussion, the senators voted to send the issue back to the committee.

"I would suggest ICPC have a slow conversation about this," said Sen. Donald Davis, professor of hydrology and water resources. "It's very important to keep it going for at least the next two years."

The reason it may be important to keep the assessment is to collect data on the writing proficiency of the student body. If the test shows that the students show inadequate writing ability, then changes in instruction could be made, he said.

While the UDWPE may be valuable in determining the writing ability of the students, Sen. Thomas Davis, professor of pharmacology, said the standards need to be looked at.

"You have to be very careful in the assessment criteria that you make," he said. "Let's not be reflexive in assessment, let's give them (the students) something they can use."

In his first day as ASUA president, Ben Graff said he was not impressed with the Faculty Senate's handling of the issue.

"I'm disappointed to see there was not more discussion," Graff said. "I'd like to see that committee (ICPC) bring it back to the Senate floor."

Many majors that don't have a writing intense focus may have more difficulty with the assessment, Donald Davis said.

"The students are definitely apprehensive about taking the test," he said.

Graff agreed that the test is not standardized enough to be fair to all students, no matter what discipline they study in.

"It's not something that can be applied to every single college, to every single major," Graff said. "If we don't get rid of it, there needs to be drastic changes."

In other business, Campus Health presented the Faculty Senate with the new smoking policy that would require smoking to be done at least 25 feet away from all University of Arizona buildings.

The Faculty Senate unanimously voted to support the new policy.

"We wanted to inform the major governing groups," said Melissa McGee, health educator with Campus Health.

The new policy has already been brought to the Staff Advisory Council and the ASUA - which voted unanimously to support it.

Even though the new smoking policy met no opposition in ASUA, some senators worried that this would infringe on smokers' ability to do so on campus, since the UA is not a smoke-free environment.

"One of our concerns is - are there still going to be adequate accommodation for those who want to smoke?" Graff asked.

While the UA is not yet considering a smoke-free policy, Sen. Andrew Silverman, a law professor, said he would be in favor of the university taking that action.

"This (new smoking policy) moves us more in that direction," Silverman said.