The policy of swine flu-related student absences was the topic of discussion at Faculty Senate Wednesday.

“We agreed to a policy that would not take away the faculty’s right to deal with the situation however they choose,” Faculty Senate President Alan Rosenbaum said.

He added that in a previous meeting the Senate came to the consensus that a doctor’s note should not be required from students missing class because they have or suspect they have the H1N1 virus.

Some staff members are not complying with this and the results have been a number of students flooding Health Services requesting to be checked for the H1N1 virus, Rosenbaum said.

“Please don’t send students to health services to get notes,” Rosenbaum said. He also requested that all faculty members notify their departments of the policy to prevent any further confusion.

“They don’t have to comply with this, but it would be a good thing for all concerned,” Rosenbaum said.

DISCUSSING THE ‘THREE C’s’

An update on the Baccalaureate Review was also given during the meeting by art history professor Jeff Kowalski.

Kowalski said that as a result of the Strategic Planning Imperative a task force was created during the summer to review NIU’s baccalaureate degree goals. He added that this review includes finding out what NIU students should know and be able to do upon graduating from the university.

The task force attempted to get feedback from as many different members of the NIU community as possible, Kowalski said. He added that the feedback was gathered from an online survey and several different focus groups.

After listening to the feedback the task force was able to conclude that the undergraduate experience should focus on the “Three C’s,” Kowalski said. The “Three C’s” are defined as critical thinking, communication and context.

The task force is hoping to get further responses to its conclusions.

“This is a part of the process that we want to involve faculty, students and different constituencies in,” Kowalski said. “Be sure you read the reports and if something needs improvement tell us about it because that’s what we want.”

The reports are available at www.niu.edu/bacreview/index.shtml

All comments are moderated before being published. We will not edit your comments, but we also will not approve those that are abusive, off-topic, attack another poster or contain information we know to be libelous or false.

During peak weekday viewing times, most comments will be reviewed within six hours. For more detailed information, click here.

After submitting your comment, check below for a confirmation message.

• Your name:
• Enter text from image:
  

• Your comment:

* 300-character count. HTML formatting will not display.