Students who utilize the resources IU Southeast has available year round, such as the library and writing center, are often unaware of the driving force behind tedious matters like degree requirements, admissions, policies and procedures.    The Faculty senate, consisting of several diverse staff members, meets regularly during the school year to enhance and regulate the campus experience for students.

The faculty senate’s constitution states the senate aims in taking part in making decisions, recommendations and keeping an eye on policies.

“The faculty senate is the governance system of the school,” Mark Jallayu, student body president and political science junior, said. “They’re the ones who make decisions that affect the whole campus.”

According to the articles listed in the constitution, they target many of their responsibilities towards how the university operates, affecting students in four important ways.

1. “To define and review the goals of this University.”

The student body and faculty of the IU Southeast campus all function due to  goals set by the senate. During meetings, school performance is often discussed as members search for new and alternative ways to improve and implement educational values.

“The overall goal of the faculty senate is to support the academic mission of the campus,” said Joe Wert, faculty senate president. “We’re sort of the governing body.”

2. “To set requirements for degrees, determine when those requirements have been met, and authorize the granting of degrees.”

“Two big things that the faculty senate does that affects students are approving new programs and changes in curriculum,” Wert said.

Degrees are constantly being developed, such as the recent proposal for creating a Masters degree for the Science of Management,  MSA, rather than a Masters in Business Administration, MBA, for students with no background in business.

According to the website, new degree proposals are created by the faculty, who must consult with the School Dean and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs. The website goes on to explain that degree proposals can take an extensive amount of time and depending on approval, may need revision.

“If it’s a whole degree program, it gets approved by this campus and then it’ll end up going to the Board of Trustees,” Wert said. “Then sometimes it’ll even have to go out of the IU system and into the Indiana Commission for Higher Education for approval. And then to our national accrediting body.”

New courses may also be discussed, which means going through an extensive and thorough process. The course syllabus must first be developed by a faculty member, and is next approved by the school. Then it will go through each form of approval within different committees.

3. “To determine general policies regarding the scheduling of classes and the academic calendar.”

The faculty senate also discusses the academic calendar, consisting of scheduled school days, breaks and events. While this includes winter break, summer break and the commencement ceremony, scheduling can become complicated.

“Fall break is my main concern,” Jallayu said. “That was one of the main platforms I ran on. I will be disappointed if we don’t get it passed.”

James Kauffman, professor of communication studies and chair of the Senate’s Student Recruitment and Retention Committee, has been involved in the faculty senate for the last 25 years in numerous roles, from senator to president.

“Scheduling becomes tough,” Kauffman said. “There has been debate about fall break. We have to consider how many days it is. When does it start and stop? It could present problems.”

The senate has attempted to make the IU Southeast calendar pair with the other IU campus’ in order to provide easier schedules for students.

“Students may be on spring break with our campus, but be taking online classes at IU East for example,” Kauffman said. “Their spring break could be different.”

4. “To establish guidelines for student admissions, academic probation, student conduct, and related student affairs.”

The guidelines for student admissions has allowed thousands of students to be accepted into IU Southeast, but has been previously changed in order to allow more students on campus.

“We also do formal approval on the graduation list each spring. We set academic policies. All these things affect students quite a bit,” Wert said.

Students who may have any concerns regarding the campus should speak with the Student Government Association.

“The student body president serves in the faculty senate to act as the liaison between the SGA, the student body and the campus administrations,” Jallayu said. “When I go the meetings, I speak on behalf of the student body. I inform the faculty senate about issues that pertain to the student body and also hear what they say to give back to the student body and to the senate.”