The Council on Academic Affairs discussed and agreed to not suspend their bylaws and delay the 2022-23 catalog’s deadline, which would have allowed colleges to submit proposals after the deadline on Thursday.

During the meeting on Thursday, CAA discussed whether they would be willing to extend the deadline from Feb. 18 to a later date, allowing committees from various colleges who plan to present proposals for new courses or changes to courses or programs.

These changes are necessary for the catalog, so students know what classes are available and the criteria for the class.

In the past, CAA has refused to delay the deadline for the catalog.

Marita Gronnvoll, council member and communication studies professor, explained what CAA did when she was chairperson of CAA.

“I was chair when we used to do those late additions [proposals], and we had a lot of pushback from the campus community,” Gronnvoll said. “I think for a good reason, and I think in a lot of ways we were taken advantage of as a council that we were getting things that came through that hadn’t been properly vetted or read by the proposers themselves. So I would say no, let’s not budge on that.”

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences met with CAA Chairperson Richard Wilkinson prior to Thursday’s meeting and told him they had about 35 proposals that needed to be voted on prior to the catalog deadline, but they won’t meet and finalize those 35 proposals until their meeting Feb. 16, two days before the catalog deadline.

This would require CAA to vote on 35 proposals from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, not including proposals from other colleges, in one two-hour meeting.

CAA has a two-hour time limit for their weekly meetings, and agenda items not addressed that week are added to next week’s agenda.

Gronnvoll went on to explain why CAA would be unable to vote on every proposal before the deadline within one meeting.

“We’re good as a council, but I don’t think we can get through [35 proposals] in two hours,” Gronnvoll said. “I think our record was 25 [proposals] in two hours.”

Amy Rosenstein, CAA member and special education professor, discussed the idea of CAA categorizing the proposals by priority of needing to be in next year’s catalog. Meaning, new courses take priority, while CAA could put revisions on hold for approval from CAA.

“We could be a little discriminatory with [choosing proposals] as well,” Rosenstein said. “Like, if we have 55 courses coming in from all the colleges, then we look at which ones have to be looked at prior to deadline.”

Council members decided to have Vice President of Academic Affairs Jay Gatrell decide if the deadline would be moved, and as a council, they would prioritize new courses getting approved prior to the deadline while leaving minor course and program revisions decided after.

This is only if CAA is unable to approve every proposal prior to the catalog deadline.

The council also unanimously approved a new nursing course with revisions.

The course, NUR-2525, will be available in the fall for students interested in being in the nursing program.

The council also unanimously approved a revision to the Nursing Traditional program with one revision to the proposal as well.

Madelyn Kidd can be reached 581-2812 or at mekidd@eiu.edu.