Resolution passed at May 2, 2005 University Senate meeting
With an Amendment to review in three years

Resolution to Make the College 102 Seminar Mandatory for Freshmen

Presented to the University Senate on May 2, 2005 from the Undergraduate Council.

Whereas: The Undergraduate College program is fully implemented and all incoming freshmen in the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the College of Business are assigned to one of the six (6) Undergraduate Colleges.

Whereas: The College 101 courses, the fall semester curricular component of the Undergraduate Colleges, are mandatory (as of Fall 2004). All full-time first-year students were enrolled in a College 101 course last Fall (students in the Honors College, Learning Communities Program, and WISE have been enrolled in equivalent courses for some time). The College 101 courses are taught primarily by the Undergraduate College advisors and residence hall directors. Preliminary reports from the New Student Survey and College 101 survey have yielded positive results regarding student satisfaction and initial successful integration into campus life, with marked improvements in some measures over previous years, at least some of which can be attributed to the mandatory College courses.

Whereas: Each Undergraduate College offers faculty-taught College 102 seminar courses each Spring semester. These 1-credit seminars are the second component of the Undergraduate College curriculum. The College 102 seminars bring tenure-track faculty and first-year students together in a small seminar designed to enrich each student’s transition to a research university and to build connections between students and faculty (one of the few weak spots found in our recent Middle States self-study). The College 102 courses are thus a valuable experience, not only for the students, but for the faculty as well. At present, the College 102 courses are optional (strongly recommended) electives and are graded on an A-C/U basis, as are certain other first-year courses (e.g. ESL, MAP, WRT). This semester, 636 students are registered in 67 sections of 102.

Be It Resolved: College 102 should be mandatory for all freshmen in the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the College of Business. By mandatory for freshmen, we mean specifically the following:

1. The College 102 course is a Spring semester requirement: All (and only) full-time students must register for the appropriate College 102 course during the Spring semester in their freshman year and no student will be permitted to drop that course.
2. Students enrolled in an equivalent course will not be required to take College 102. These are students in Honors, WISE, EOP/AIM, and the Learning Communities Program.
3. The College 102 course is a first-year requirement. It will not be required for graduation, so that a student’s failure to pass the course will not affect the student’s progress towards a degree, though the U grade will remain on their transcript. There will also be no added implications for degree audit. The Undergraduate Council will review this requirement at the end of three years.

Making the 102 courses mandatory is essential to the success of the Undergraduate College program. The College 101/102 seminar sequence provides the major mechanism for building community and coordinating programming within the colleges. We expect that this move will lead to greater engagement, retention and academic success among all freshman students at Stony Brook.

April 27, 2005 (revised May 3, 2005)

William F. Collins, III
Co-Chair, Undergraduate Council