Minutes

Core Committee

December 11, 2007

Lorentzsen Conference Room – 8 am

 

Members present: D. Anderson, M. Burchill, P. Fretham, A. Ingberg, G Muilenburg, D. Sandgren, L. Sethre-Hofstad.

 

  1. The appeal from *)&($$@ to allow Religion 331X to count toward core requirements as a Religion J course was discussed. The committee will forward the appeal directly to the Religion Department for their input.
  2. The Policy for Accommodation of Students with Disabilities was discussed, as several appeals have come before this committee from students requesting course substitutions for core requirements, for example to replace a world language course with a course on culture due to diagnosed learning disabilities that affect language acquisition and understanding. This discussion follows up the conversation we had earlier with the counseling center. In the current policy, Step 4’s second paragraph sets out a plan of action whenever there is a petition for change in curricular requirements. If Concordia moves to a blanket “no exceptions” policy for 1.0 course credit requirements, this entire paragraph could be deleted from the policy, and the following first sentence could be added:

Concordia College is committed to providing access to learning opportunities for students with disabilities who meet the standard criteria for admission, and who are able to complete the requirements of the Core curriculum and the majors/minors of the departments in which they seek a degree.

In the meantime, however, either the core committee denies course substitution requests (viewing them as exceptions to the core rather than as accommodations, which may result in appeals going directly to the Dean), or we can seek a broader discussion with appropriate constituencies on the policy itself.

 

The next meeting will take place January 15th, 2008.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Douglas Anderson