Faculty Council voted to move Reading Day back to Friday, as opposed to Thursday, for future academic calendars at its regular meeting Thursday. The change to move Reading Day to a Thursday was put in place last year. Some council members said the move has caused issues with students’ finals schedules.
“It is possible for a student to have a last test on Wednesday and a final test on Friday,” Faculty Council Chairwoman Leona Rubin said. “It seems like a hardship for the student.”
There was no opposition to the vote. Professor Harry Tyrer said he would always support having Reading Day on a Friday.
“I’ve had colleagues who teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays and have trouble getting a sufficient amount of lecture time,” Tyrer said.
Faculty Council also approved a ballot to vote on changes to the general education curriculum, which will be sent to faculty members. The ballot will be distributed soon and is the result of months of discussion.
The changes include allowing departments to use any 4000-level courses to fulfill the capstone requirement and approving the diversity course requirement.
Professor Bill Wiebold brought several recommendations to the meeting. The UM System Interfaculty Council has been discussing the issue of granting benefits to domestic partners, who are currently not offered benefits through employee health care plans.
“I think it’s a good thing that we continue to have those conversations,” Wiebold said. “Because that’s all it is, is conversation.”
Wiebold said he hopes the issue of support for domestic partners will be brought up in the search for the new UM System president. Council members signed a letter from the Diversity Enhancement Committee urging the discussion of domestic partner benefits with the UM System Board of Curators. The letter will be sent to Interim President Steve Owens and Human Resources Vice President Betsy Rodriguez.
“We think it’s time to stop talking and start doing,” Diversity Enhancement Committee Chairwoman Leah Cohn, who presented the letter, said. “And we think this letter urges just that.”
Wiebold presented his own resolutions to Faculty Council. The first was to create a type of memorial to students that have died in recent wars around Memorial Union. Memorial Union was built as a memorial to students who died in WWI, also called, “the war to end all wars.”
“The war to end all wars did not do so,” Wiebold said in his resolution. “Brave Missourians have served and continued to serve in two recent wars, Iraq and Afghanistan.”
The council recommended expanding the names included in the memorial to students and alumni killed in Desert Storm and other conflicts, as well as going back to the Civil War. They will continue to develop this idea before moving forward with the recommendation to Chancellor Brady Deaton.
Another resolution addressed MU’s closed campus policy, which closes streets from 8:15 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Wiebold expressed concern that the hours were unusual and created a risk for pedestrians. The proposal calls to first close the section of Hitt Street between Lowry Mall and Memorial Union solely for vehicular traffic by the 2011-2012 academic year.
Pedestrian traffic wasn’t the only safety concern. Bentley, chairman of the Campus Parking and Traffic committee, said that most DUI arrests that happen on campus are not faculty or students, but people speeding through campus.
Council members’ concerns will be addressed in the Campus Parking and Traffic committee, and the idea will continue to be explored.
