Faculty Senate discusses Ways, approves academic residency proposal in last meeting of 2022-23

The Faculty Senate heard a presentation on Ways, the general education breadth requirement for undergraduates, and approved an academic residency requirement proposal, among other matters, in its last meeting of the academic year on Thursday.

“We’ve had some lively debates this year, and we’ve voiced some significant disagreements,” said Senate Chair Kenneth Schultz. “But we’re all united in our commitment to the excellence of this institution, and to the principle of faculty governance, which is a core value of Stanford University.”

As part of a long-standing tradition of paying tribute to the outgoing chair, senators read a poem honoring Schultz. In contrast to years’ past, however, senators grinned as it was revealed that the poem was generated by ChatGPT – reading, in part:

In a land of academic halls,
Where debates and discussions echo through the walls,
There arose a leader strong and wise,
Guiding the senate with laughter and sighs.

In his remarks, President Marc Tessier-Lavigne expressed excitement for Commencement and Baccalaureate this weekend. “Many of the students graduating this weekend, you will recall, were at Stanford when the pandemic began,” he said. “They have shown just an enormous ability to adapt and persevere, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.”

Tessier-Lavigne also applauded recent news that Stanford clinched the Learfield Directors’ Cup, which recognizes the nation’s most successful intercollegiate athletics department across a range of sports. “I continue to be enormously proud of both the academic and athletic accomplishments of our student-athletes at Stanford,” he said.

Additionally, the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming decisions regarding race-conscious university admissions are expected in the coming weeks, Tessier-Lavigne said.

Stanford, like other universities, will need to study the precise details of what the court says in its opinions to fully understand the potential impact and implications. “The faculty have an important role in admissions policy and related matters at Stanford, so we will be working closely with faculty representatives in the period ahead,” Tessier-Lavigne added. There will be additional guidance once the rulings are issued.

“I continue to believe that diversity of thought, background, identity, and experience is critical to the mission of our university. Whichever way the court rules, that belief will not go away,” Tessier-Lavigne said. “We will comply with the law, and I believe it will be important for us to do so in a way that allows us to seek, through legally permissible means, the excellent and broadly diverse student body that is important to our mission of education and research.”

In the meeting, senators also rescinded a previously approved motion amending the Honor Code.

The first 10 years

In 2012, the Faculty Senate approved the Ways of Thinking, Ways of Doing (Ways) system as Stanford’s unique general education breadth requirement. It articulates eight capacities that Stanford deems essential to a liberal education, such as formal reasoning and social inquiry.

Ways was a successful result of the 2012 Study of Undergraduate Education at Stanford report, said Heather Hadlock, outgoing Breadth Governance Board (BGB) chair and associate professor of music. The BGB – an interdisciplinary body including faculty and student representatives – periodically reviews Ways courses.

“After 10 years, I would judge it as a product of sustained faculty stewardship informed by ongoing self-study, reflection, and adaptation over time,” Hadlock said.

In early 2020, the BGB reviewed some Engaging Diversity (ED) courses. Following student feedback and in light of the IDEAL initiative, ED learning outcomes were changed to more strongly emphasize power dynamics and other differentiating forces between groups, Hadlock said. Also, ED was renamed Exploring Difference and Power (EDP), and the BGB continues to refine its approach to evaluating and certifying those courses.

In 2022-23, a subcommittee reviewed Formal Reasoning (FR) courses, the smallest Ways category with 125 courses and the largest enrollments per course. The BGB will next convene a focus group of FR instructors to generate ideas for outreach to new instructors and broadening the range of offerings, Hadlock said.

Among its work in coming years, the BGB will review the Creative Expression Ways courses, and assess the streamlined review process launched as a pilot in 2018. And while the eight Ways categories seem sufficient for now, there are emerging areas of tension, such as interdisciplinary courses that prove challenging to shoehorn into one or two Ways, Hadlock said.

In reference to the EDP courses, Ato Quayson, the Jean G. and Morris M. Doyle Professor in Interdisciplinary Studies and professor of English, said he wondered whether coupling difference and power weakens both sides. “You could explore difference without necessarily thinking about power, and you could also explore power without necessarily thinking about difference,” he said. “To couple them shifts the balance. It is the most weighted Way in the set.”

Hadlock noted that it may be part of the reason that it’s the hardest Way to review with confidence, and detailed some of the 5-year feedback process that preceded the change.

Joshua Landy, the Andrew B. Hammond Professor in French Language, Literature, and Civilization and professor of comparative literature, said Ways appears to equip students with important cognitive skills and prompts them in the direction of exploration. He wondered if there was a way to expand this, saying, “I sort of liked the idea of English majors wandering over to the Science and Engineering Quad, and vice versa.”

Students have varied trajectories of how they fulfill Ways, Hadlock said, and in the most gratifying cases, students end up using their Ways requirements to pursue an interest they are curious about but not majoring in.

Academic residency requirement

The Faculty Senate unanimously voted to approve a proposed policy clarifying the academic residency requirement, effective academic year 2023-24.

The proposed policy from the offices of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Vice Provost for Student Affairs provides guidance to undergraduates on expectations for maintaining academic residency while enrolled in courses at Stanford, said John Taylor, chair of the Committee on Undergraduate Standards and Policy (C-USP). Taylor is the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor in Economics, the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution, and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

The proposed policy defines academic residency as: “Having a substantial in-person connection to and presence on the Stanford campus at which the student is currently enrolled throughout the quarter.”

Students aren’t required to live on campus beyond their first year of study but must live close enough to campus to attend in-person classes on a regular basis. There are general exceptions, such as for disability accommodations.

Honor Code

Senators voted to symbolically rescind a previously approved motion to amend the Honor Code.

The motion, which would have allowed proctoring beginning in the fall, became moot after the Undergraduate Senate voted to approve a proposal from the Committee of 12 (C-12) to revise the Honor Code and facilitate a multi-year study on proctoring. The rescinded motion specified that the C-12’s proposal would supersede the amendment if approved by all relevant stakeholders, including the Undergraduate Senate.

An accompanying resolution from the Graduate Student Council endorsed the motion’s rescission as a show of good faith by the Faculty Senate, congratulated the C-12 for its work, and applauded the Undergraduate Senate for passing the revised Honor Code.

In memory

Senators also heard three memorial resolutions.

Bruce Baker, the Dr. Morris Herzstein Professor in Biology in the School of Humanities and Sciences, Emeritus, died July 1, 2018, at age 72.

Marc Franklin, 88, the Frederick I. Richman Professor of Law, Emeritus, died July 5, 2020.

Joan Petersilia, the Adelbert H. Sweet Professor of Law, Emerita, died at age 68 on Sept. 23, 2019.