UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION POLICY COMMITTEE
Appendix

Resolution to Recommend Changes in Undergraduate
Admissions, Recruitment, and Retention
[as amended]

WHEREAS SIUC faces increasing competition with other four-year public institutions in the admissions, recruitment, and retention of first-year students; and <

WHEREAS SIUC finds itself at a competitive disadvantage vis-ŕ-vis other institutions that are raising admissions standards, providing scholarship money, and enhancing first-year programs; and

WHEREAS Southern at 150: Building Excellence through Commitment calls for substantial initiatives in undergraduate admissions, recruitment, and retention with far-reaching implications for the university’s educational mission (“Promote Excellence in Undergraduate Education”); and

WHEREAS Southern at 150 also re-commits the university to diversity, including its undergraduate students who are directly affected by any changes in admissions, recruitment, and retention (“Strengthening Our Commitment to Diversity”); and

WHEREAS the university has traditionally provided opportunities for first-generation students who still make up 38 percent of all undergraduates at SIUC; and

WHEREAS first-generation students are the most vulnerable in the difficult transition from high school to the university, and generally require coordinated programs for them to succeed; and

WHEREAS a body of scholarly literature (e.g., by Vincent Tinto and John Gardner) shows clearly that well conceived first-year programs, especially those that foster learning communities, are effective in helping all undergraduates through to graduation;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Faculty Senate approve changes to undergraduate admissions, effective Fall 2006, which are consistent with Southern at 150 and the university’s historical commitments to diversity and first-generation students (see attachment of revised Admission Criteria Table); and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Faculty Senate urges the Chancellor to seek new appropriations and donations in order to provide scholarship money specifically targeted to meritorious first-generation undergraduates as part of the admissions changes; and

BE IT STILL FURTHER RESOLVED that Faculty Senate calls for better coordination of structured first-year programs to promote the success and retention of all undergraduate students admitted to SIUC.

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