The Student Government Association kicked off Tuesday’s meeting with a guest speaker from the Faculty Senate. Dr. Terry Tollefson is the chair of the Faculty Senate’s Academic Matters Committee.
The Faculty Senate has recently been asked to prepare a recommendation of changes in the university’s attendance policy. These changes, targeted primarily at freshman and sophomore attendance in class, could be as radical as a new mandatory attendance policy, or perhaps no change at all.
“Freshmen and perhaps sophomores are the ones who need the guidance,” Tollefson said.
The idea to review the attendance problem originally came up when the university was looking for ways to encourage success among underclassmen.
In his statements, Tollefson commented that he did not know what would come out of this yet.
The present attendance policy merely states that faculty shall encourage class attendance and any attendance policy must be in writing.
The establishment of any policy is left up to the departments or professors.
When asked to make recommendations, the student Senate passed a verbal resolution supporting the present attendance policy, but advocating seminars and workshops for faculty to help them understand how to implement attendance policies, and to continue evaluating and discussing the present policy.
The motion, which was made by Sen. Chris Zeigler, passed without opposition.
The Senate also appointed three new Senators this week. Ashley McCroskey, Megan McEntire and James Sheffey were inducted into the Senate through the selections process.
McCroskey was the first candidate to be interviewed by the Senate.
“I’ve noticed how students that live on campus don’t communicate with those that commute,” she said.
McCroskey wants to bring about greater campus unity between residents of the dorms and commuter students.
Sheffey, the second candidate interviewed, told the Senate that he wanted to “come in and get experience,” before trying to make any changes.
McEntire, who was interviewed last, told the Senate that she thought that too many copies of the East Tennessean were left around and that they should be recycled after used to avoid waste.
Lastly, the SGA nominated candidates to receive the two annual awards given by the SGA, including Senator of the Year and the Dorman Stout Award.
The Senators nominated for the Senator of the Year Award were Ziegler, Tiffany Porter, David Lane, Diana Bowers and James Heck.
The Dorman Stout Award, which is open to any student, is given for outstanding leadership. Nominated were Chad Reed, Elizabeth Johnston, Jennifer Berry, Porter, Zeigler, Adam Moore, Daniel Kane and Lane. Recipients will be announced at the SGA inauguration in March.

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