Central Michigan University’s Academic Senate unanimously approved changes to the university’s Grade Point Average (GPA) forgiveness policy by removing some language and adding additional steps to the policy’s process during their meeting on Nov. 26.

The policy aims to help students be in good academic standing after going through academic probation or leaving the school. Executive Director of Academic Advising & Student Success Evan Montague says struggling students tend to be in their first or second year.

“The majority of academic standing issues happened during the first two years of your educational experience,” Montague said.

Senate Chairperson Stephen Juris said a big change would be that students who return from academic probation or have unenrolled from the university to have complete 12 credit hours, "in strong academic standing and then it has to petition to have CMU take out those 12 credit hours (in low academic standing)”

Senator Mary Senter asked them to put a bullet point under the policy, asking the university to gather data and analyze the situation so they could learn more about the issues students go through. She said the university should “lessen the need for this kind of policy.”

Senator Johnson honors the death of James Span Jr.

During the announcement portion of the meeting, Senator Matthew Johnson asked the Senate to honor the death James Span Jr., the executive director of Student Inclusion and Diversity, who died over the weekend.

Matthews wanted to acknowledge Span’s death to the Senate and the work the executive director had completed during his time at CMU.

“He was an incredible advocate for students, and I want to just make sure that his name is spoken,” Johnson said. “If you interacted at all over the past decade or so with students of color, low-income students and first-gen students who found their place in success here at the university, odds are they came into contact with James.”

Members of CMU’s Student Government Association held a moment of silence during their meeting Monday night.

Co-chairs of CMU’s Shared Governance Council explain their work

Joe Garrison and Shelly Bartosek, co-chairs of the Shared Governance Council at CMU, held a presentation explaining what the organization is and its role at the university.

Bartosek said it’s a collection of faculty members, students and administrators who meet monthly to hear the interests of all groups around campus.

Co-chairs of the Central Michigan University's Shared Governance Council Joe Garrison and Shelly Bartosek delivers a presentation on the work the council does during the Academic Senate meeting on Nov. 26, 2024. (CM Life | Blace Carpenter)

“It's been very consistent if you will, half faculty, half administration and staff as well as students,” Bartosek said. “It's really neat to be in the same room and to have that voice where faculty, administration, staff and students are having engaging dialog and conversation."

The council was created in 2013 by previous CMU President George E. Ross and the Academic Senate. Their goal was to create a community that represents every part of campus. There are currently 19 members: Garrison and Bartosek, seven tenure faculty members, four staff members, three administrators, one student and one fixed-term faculty. There is one student who is marked as "to be determined."

Lancaster thanks CMU community and wishes everyone a safe holiday

With President Neil Mackinnon out of town, Interim Provost Paula Lancaster gave a brief report, acknowledging the true history behind Thanksgiving and hopes that the CMU community takes a break over the weekend.

“We all know that the history of this upcoming holiday, like most historical events, is much more complicated than the stories that are commonly told,” said Lancaster. “If you are off to distant places over the weekend, I wish you safe travels. If you're hosting, I hope you'll take some time for yourself to pause and rest and put your feet up as well. If it's quiet time that's on your agenda over the next few days, I hope the solitude brings you peace and calm.”

Lancaster, who has been in her role as interim provost for a little over two months, also thanked the Senate and the CMU community for their support.

Future Academic Senate meetings will occur at 3:30 p.m. every other Tuesday at the Education and Human Services Building in the French Auditorium. Livestreams of the meetings and all future meetings can be found on CMU’s website.