Faculty Senate voted on a raise in the transfer GPA and eliminating the “summer option” at its meeting Tuesday.

The GPA requirement excludes students who have attained an associates degree and will raise the minimum transfer GPA from 2.0 to 2.25. The increase cited one-year student retention rates and six-year graduation rates. This change will take place in the fall of 2019.

The summer option allowed students who had a Regent Admission Index (RAI) below the required 245 to take classes the summer before their first fall semester.

The bill stated that roughly 50 students take part in the summer option and said that only half of them were successful. The bill also referred to 60 percent two-year retention rates for these students. This change will take place in the summer of 2018.

Sturm made note of three bills in the state legislature: the tenure bill, the political party among faculty bill and the concealed carry bill.

“Three bills were introduced over this legislative session that had they passed unaltered may well have threatened the freedom to teach and learn upon, which higher education and our own teaching futures depend,” Sturm said.

Sturm went on to defend tenure as “not job security, but it is idea security.” He attacked the political party bill, calling it a danger when Iowa State works hard to increase the sense of welcome.

Finally, Sturm hit on the concealed carry bill, mentioning that it had been amended to exclude regent universities. 

“It is my view that weaponizing the people of the campus likely diminishes the freedom faculty may feel to pass knowledge forward in the unrestricted manor that academic freedom allows,” Sturm said.

Sturm went on to mention President Trump’s new travel ban, saying it undermines the ability of public universities to attract the best minds.

Tera Jordan, assistant professor of human development and family studies, and Rob Whitehead, assistant professor of architecture, both were elected as Athletic Council representatives by the Faculty Senate.

Jordan cited her current work on the Athletic Council as a three-year member who attends all meetings. She also mentioned her work on the Student Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC), which she had chaired for two years.

Whitehead has an interesting history with sports as an architect, working on multiple different athletic facilities. He ended on a story about being the first to wear the new Cy mascot.