The Council on Academic Affairs had their weekly meeting at Booth Library, where they discussed a new philosophy class.

Philosophy of sex and love is a course that could be offered as soon as fall of 2016. This class will be listed under women’s studies; however it will be an elective for anyone to take.

What the class will focus on is a personal reflection of a student’s own sexuality and vision of sex and love. As of now, Christianity is the religion that the class will base sex and love off of, but more religions are planned to be included in the class.

The CAA voted unanimously in favor of this course.

The class consumers in the marketplace is still under discussion, as the CAA has not decided how to revise the course.

Other topics discussed included the Collegiate Learning Assessment Plus (CLA+).

The purpose of this exam is to use ACT scores and freshman year grades to determine a “value added,” meaning expected senior year scores.

If the student scores a positive number at the end of the exam, then progress has been made for the student academically.

If there is a negative number, then the student has made no progress.

The CLA+ consists of a 90-minute exam that is split into two sections.

The first section is the performance task portion, which asks students to write an essay response on a given world situational problem and to propose a solution.

The second part of the CLA+ exam is the response questions that consist of 25 multiple-choice items. Those 25 questions are broken down into sections: 10 questions that measure scientific and quantitative reasoning, 10 questions that measure critical reading and evaluation, and a final five questions that involve critiquing arguments.

Some members of the CAA had a couple concerns that follow this test. One of the concerns is that seniors might not take this seriously.

They said seniors may not try their best on this test because their education at Eastern is almost over.

Also, since the CLA+ test will be more writing based, it raises the question if the test will pertain to every subject.

Two classes had their name changed to more accurately emphasize the class’s material. The first class is ENG1001G/1091G and it will be changed from “Composition and Language” to “Composition I: Critical Reading and Source-Based Writing.” The other class is ENG1002/1092G, which will be changed from “Composition and Literature” to “Composition II: Argument and Critical Inquiry.” These changes were put on hold in the fall because of the other matters that occurred at Eastern.

Adam Shay can be reached at 581-2812 or acshay@eiu.edu