The Faculty Senate passed a proposal to change the format and structure of English composition classes at its meeting yesterday.

Under the new proposal, College English I and II will be replaced by College Writing I and II.

The biggest change in the proposal will be when students will take the courses, Honors College Dean Larry Andrews said.

Instead of taking both classes as freshmen, students will take College Writing I in their freshman year and College Writing II in their sophomore year.

Roughly half the students will take the courses in the fall semester, while the other half will take the courses during the spring semester.

Students will not be allowed to register for College Writing II until they have taken 28 credit hours in order to ensure that only sophomores take the class, Andrews said.

There also will be a two-semester preparatory English course for “unprepared” students. The first half of the course will be developmental while the second half will prepare students to take College Writing II, Andrews said.

The proposal will go into effect in Fall 2006.

Several senators expressed concerns about whether there would be enough classes to accommodate students.

The English department commissioned a study from the Office of Research Planning and Institutional Effectiveness that shows there will be enough classes to accommodate students, Chair Ronald Corthell said.

“According to the study, there will be enough classes to absorb students who have taken College English I,” he said. “There would be a slight crunch in 10 percent of the classes, but 90 percent of the classes would have no problem accommodating students.”

There will be some flexibility in the new system for upper-division students who haven’t taken any composition courses, Arts and Sciences Dean Jerry Feezel said in an earlier interview.

Senators also discussed the search for a new president. Several senators said the new president should be a scholar who understands academic values and the importance of academic freedom. Other senators said they wanted to see African-Americans seriously considered as candidates for president.

In other business, the Senate passed a proposal to add the lab courses Chemistry in Our World and Physics in Entertainment and Arts as LER options. This will allow students to have more choices under the new transfer module system, Andrews said. The new system requires all students take at least one science lab course.

The Senate also passed an agreement for the College of Technology on the Ashtabula campus to partner with the Precision Manufacturing Institute of Meadville, Pa.

The agreement will offer credits from Precision Manufacturing for students who are receiving a diploma in the Associate of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering Technology at Kent State.

Contact academic affairs reporter Amanda Garrett at [email protected].