Speaker of the Faculty and Chair of the Academic Senate Dr. Chris Nagel (Philosophy) opened Stan State’s Academic Senate meeting on Nov. 13 which discussed matters of WPST possible changes, academic advising for undergraduates, and future conflict with the academic calendar year of 2020-2021.

WPST discussion revisited

In the previous academic senate meeting, the committee talked about making changes within the Writing Proficiency Screening Test (WPST). Students are asking reps from Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) if taking both the WPST and the Writing Proficiency (WP) course is necessary.

ASI President Maria Marquez said, “CSU Stanislaus is the only CSU that requires students to take a both the WPST and the WP course. Students that take the WPST may not pass it on the first try, and the pricing of the WPST gets expensive for students who may not be able to afford it.”

Some new students during orientation did not know that they were required to take the WPST before taking the WP course.

It was brought up within the academic senate that 85% of students that take the WPST for the first time pass the exam. Students demonstrate that they can follow the topic and the instructions included with the test.

ASI Vice President Michelle Nungaray stated, “We are so used to technology and we feel that the WPST is a bit outdated. Even students with a 4.0 fail the test because they feel pressured to do so much with a little amount of time.”

The continuous debate about the WPST went on and there was motion by the ASI President and Vice President to table the discussion until the next senate meeting Dec. 4, but it was denied and the discussion continued.

A vote to keep everything with the WPST the same was brought to motion and the vote was unanimous that nothing would change.

Mandatory Advising

A discussion arose at the meeting concerning mandatory advising for students in all majors. Currently, not all majors require advising before students can register for classes. 

Advising during picking classes in the end of each semester can be stressful on students. It is said that advising is one of the most common stressors that students discuss in Psychological Counseling and a change to advising may help the experience less stressful.

Eudey said, “Undergraduate students will receive mandatory personal advising in their major between 75 and 90 units. Which is definitely not happening in all the majors at the moment.”

Other Discussions

Additionally, it was discovered that students are donating meal credits to each other informally, and that a program could be instated where the credits are anonymously donated to students in need.

Nagel and Chair of EUPC Dr. Betsy Eudey (Gender Studies) both discussed the timing issue of Spring Break falling within the same week as Cesar Chavez Day.

Since Cesar Chavez is in the Spring, it can still cause some issues with other school sanctioned holidays. Eudey said, “The calendar and the way it is set up, if we have the whole week off of Spring Break and Cesar Chavez Day off it can result in the school having the whole week of Thanksgiving off as well.” 

For more information about Academic Senate, click here. The next Academic Senate meeting will be held on Dec. 4 at 2 p.m. in the Faculty Development Center (FDC), room 118.