• Yesterday afternoon, the Academic Senate approved a motion that would require all undergraduate classes to have their current syllabi stored in electronic files.
• The proposal is only asking for the electronic files to be kept. Where the files will be kept and who will be able to access the files has not yet been determined.
• Provost John Pauly's report stated that both freshman enrollment deposits and university donations are down from this time last year, but the decline was to be expected given the current economic situation.

Yesterday afternoon, the University Academic Senate approved a proposal that could require departments in every college to maintain current syllabi in electronic files for all undergraduate classes.

The proposal, which still needs final approval from Provost John Pauly, was brought forth to the Senate by Margaret Bloom, the vice provost for undergraduate programs and teaching.

"The proposal recommends for all syllabi to be posted and maintained in electronic files," Bloom said. "It's a storage policy, not an access policy. It's just asking that such an electronic file be kept."

Where the electronic files will be kept and who will have access to the files has yet to be determined, she said.

According to Bloom, keeping an electronic file of class syllabi will potentially facilitate the ability of advisors to help students determine the classes that are best suited for their area of study and interest.

Christine Krueger, a Senate member representing the College of Arts & Sciences, was one of the many who supported the proposal.

"As advisers it is very difficult for us to advise students about specific classes without having the syllabi on hand," Krueger said.

Some faculty members were concerned that if the electronic syllabi were made available to students, the students would use the syllabi to "shop around" for what seem to be the easiest classes.

But Krueger said even if this were case, "shopping around" for classes wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

"That's what goes on during the first two weeks of classes for many students as it is," Krueger said.

If students were given the opportunity to examine class syllabi in advance, it would save students and administrators much of the time and energy that is wasted by dropping and adding classes at the beginning of every semester, she said.

The proposal is a first step in moving the university toward making class syllabi available to students — a request that was brought to the Senate by Marquette Student Government.

Jason Rae, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and former legislative vice president of MUSG, said from a student's standpoint, the electronic syllabi files would be very beneficial while registering for classes.

"Right now, when students sign up for a class all they have to go off of is a bullet point with a single sentence describing the whole course," Rae said. "It's not very helpful when the only thing you know about a class while signing up is, 'American History: 1776-1861.'"

In other Academic Senate news…

 Provost John Pauly's report contained information regarding freshman enrollment numbers and university donations.

Incoming freshman enrollment deposits are coming in slowly, Pauly said. Currently, about 700 freshmen have made their enrollment deposits — down about 35 percent from this time last year, he said.

"We expected that the deposits would come in slowly during times like this," Pauly said. "But we're still right within range of what historically happens. In a week or so we'll have a clearer sense of where we are at."

Pauly also informed the Senate that 23,500 people have donated more than $23 million to the university so far this year.

The donations are not at the level the university has seen in recent years, but he said it's still a good amount of money for any institution at any level given the current economic recession.

According to Pauly, the university is also trying to raise extra money that will be used to help current students struggling financially to return to Marquette next year.

The plan, entitled "Bridge to the Future," aims to raise an additional $5 million in scholarships by June 30 to help returning students.

"We have significant donations that we expect will be coming in for that," Pauly said. "Sometimes students are a little embarrassed to ask for help, but we want to use this money we are trying to collect to help these students."