The Faculty Senate passed a new policy requiring students to register for class audits by the 10th day of their semester classes.

Faculty Senate member Max Wortman, distinguished professor of management, said the Academic Affairs Council and the Executive Board have been deliberating on the audit policy for over a year.

The new policy will require students to register to audit courses within the first 10 days of the semester and will require the instructor’s signature for all audits, Wortman said. Students will continue to receive no credit for the audited course, and fees will be assessed as if they were taking the course for credit.

Members of the Faculty Senate decided at their Tuesday night meeting that the audited courses would play a factor in determining the full-time status of the student as opposed to full-time and part-time status.

Faculty Senate member Warren Dolphin said the program is flexible.

“If the student is not doing well, they can stay in the course and try to finish it out with a passing grade,” said Dolphin, university professor of zoology and genetics. “We have a very liberal designated repeat policy where they can change their grade if they are not successful. We should not feel compelled to essentially say, ‘Well this is a full-time student because they are taking an audit when we know they are not attending class.'”

Proposals to discontinue the interdepartmental graduate minor in housing and the school psychology specialist degree program were passed at the meeting, as well as a policy about unmet high school requirements. The policy outlines conditions for accepting students who have just one unmet high school requirement.

The new Faculty Conduct Policy will be discussed during an additional senate meeting on Nov. 28.

Dorothy Lewis, interim director of Academic Information Technologies, and John Kingland, director of Telecommunications, spoke about new standards for university desktop computers and the uniform wiring for Iowa State’s computer systems. Lewis said the university desktop computer standards increase the services and the reduce costs.

The new standards will affect personal computers and Macintosh equipment, as well as associated hardware and software, Lewis said.

Faculty Senate member Bill Woodman said he realizes the pressure for the new standards with the limited amount of resources for repair, maintenance and parts that are available. “The problem is that you’re forcing everyone through a relatively small funnel here,” said Woodman, professor of sociology.