On May 4, the Stan State’s Academic Senate held their last meeting of the semester. Topics discussed include the ethnic studies requirement, the web conference camera policy, psychological counseling services offered at Stan State, a virtual Warrior Day, graduation stoles, and a book publishing workshop.
Ethic Studies Requirement
The implementation of an ethnic studies requirement has been a continuous topic of discussion for the past year. Although all are in favor of the requirement, it seems that implementing this requirement may be an issue since adding it would mean the addition of three units to general education requirements.
Senator Brian Morsony argued that students already have enough classes to take. He feels that adding more units doesn’t solve the ethnic studies problem.
“Adding another three units is not going to help them…it will impact students and professors [and] it will cost them more time or more tuition money,” Morsony said.
“Compromise isn’t really accurate since both AB1460 and Title V have already been passed. This leaves the two options as compromise or noncompliance,” Senator Mary Roaf responded.
Despite the discussion regarding the issue of adding three units to general education requirements, the importance of ethnic studies was greatly acknowledged.
“I want to see ES courses in Area F and D. If anything, that strengthens ethnic studies,” believed Senate Chairman Dave Colnic.
It was also argued that the ethnic studies issue should be separated from the issue regarding the additional three units.
Web Conference Camera Policy
Web camera policy has been an issue for many professors since much of Stan State moved to virtual learning. The current policy states that “faculty may not require students to have their cameras on during synchronous class sessions until such time as permanent policy is in place and that student choice of having their camera on or off will not directly impact student grades.”
While discussing this policy, it was taken into account the policy for students when taking an exam. For the fall, the Senate hopes that faculty can have the choice to let students take the exams in-person so that professors can have a progressive course and more abundant classroom options.
Psychological Counselor Faculty Employment Opportunity
Currently, Psychological and Counseling Services are in need of more staff.
The open position reports to the director of Psychological Counseling Services and is 40 hours per week on a 12 month schedule. Duties will include providing individual, couple and group counseling, assessment, crisis intervention, outreach, workshops, consultation, accurate note-taking, and performing other duties as assigned.
Within the announcement, the importance of recruiting more counselors was greatly discussed as physiologic education is one of the healthiest ways to promote self health. It was also argued that a long-term counselor can better serve students’ concerns and know their resources on the campus.
Virtual Warrior Day
ASI has announced that they will hold a virtual Warrior Day on May 14.
During the virtual event, there will be a variety of games and activities as well as the opportunity to win prizes. The first 500 to register for this event will be given a Warrior Day pack which will include a variety of small prizes. For more information as to how to register, please visit the link below.
https://www.csustan.edu/asi-sc/programming/warrior-day-festival
Rainbow Stoles for Graduation
Dr. Dana Nakano (Department of Sociology, Gerontology, and Gender Studies) announced that there are rainbow graduation stoles available to students who are a part of LGBTQ+ community. The following is the link to purchase them. You can either have it mailed to or available for pick up.
Rainbow Graduation (office.com).
Academic Book Publishing Workshop Friday – June 25, 2021
Dr. Nakano has announced that a book publishing workshop is available for students and faculty to participate in.
This workshop will be a one day, two-part event. The first part will be focused on a book manuscript, “Racial Uniform: The Limits and Effect of Japanese American Citizenship,” by Dana Y. Nakano under contract with New York University Press. The second part of the workshop will mainly focus on the book publishing process and also include an appearance by guest speaker Dr. Anthony C. Ocampo (Series Editor, NYU Press).
This workshop will be held virtually on Friday, June 25, 2021 and will run for approximately four hours.
Closing Remarks
The meeting was wrapped up by Senate members expressing their appreciation for one another’s hard work and dedication to their positions this year. The last meeting of this academic year was filled with many discussions as to what our university can implement in order to promote a better experience for students within the semesters to come. On behalf of the Signal team, we would like to thank all of the senate members for their dedication and hard work ethic for this year.
