Last week’s Faculty Senate fireworks have been peacefully resolved.

Members are busy getting the proposals regarding new majors and minors distributed electronically for collegewide faculty votes.

The dispute during last week’s meeting of the Faculty Senate involved the current wording of the faculty handbook’s Item No. 10.8, pertaining to the guidelines for approving new courses and curricula. Members in the College of Engineering were concerned about the fact that the proposed minor in bioengineering had not been voted on by the entire college. New programs require funding and organizational work that the College of Engineering had not thoroughly discussed among its faculty body.

Martha Selby, adjunct assistant professor of materials science and engineering, voiced concerns brought up by college members.

“Any new program requires funding and instructors and re-organizational efforts within the college and department,” Selby said. “It is important that all faculty members have a chance to voice their input, and I feel the right thing to do is follow what the faculty handbook says.”

The handbook specifies the order in which new proposed courses and curricula must be voted on. The proposals are initiated by a college or department and subsequently evaluated by the college curriculum committee, the college faculty, the college dean, the Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee, the Faculty Senate, the executive vice president and provost and the Board of Regents.

In the last Faculty Senate meeting, a handful of proposals were subject to postponement due to a motion on the floor that they had not been fully approved by the entire faculty in their respective colleges.

“Trying to solve this issue has been a roller coaster,” said Sedahlia Crase, Faculty Senate president and professor of human development and family studies. “We have decided to distribute the proposals to faculty in their colleges and put up for vote.”

The process is in progress this week and will be completed by the next Faculty Senate meeting, scheduled for April 15. New Bachelor of Science programs up for vote must then be taken to the provost then presented before the Board of Regents for full approval. The next regents meeting will take place April 30.

“People were scrambling at first, but I am aware that even the day after our discussions, the representatives were sending out electronic ballots for collegewide voting,” Crase said. “The proposals will be back on the docket for our next meeting, and we plan to start re-evaluating the wording in the faculty handbook because some of it appears to be outdated.”