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Faculty Senate decries SAT retakes

Oct. 15, 2008

By Ashley Corinne Killough
Staff Writer

Along with reviewing the most recent tenure policy revisions, Faculty Senate voiced concern at its monthly meeting Tuesday over Baylor's monetary incentives for freshmen to retake the SAT this summer.

In a heated exchange of dialogue, senate members passed a motion of disapproval of the $300 bookstore credit offered to incoming freshmen who retested. They also suggested that it not become a recurring practice.

"It's an issue of academic honesty," said Dr. Georgia Green, chair of Faculty Senate.

"We think it's fine for students to retake the SAT to enter a higher scholarship bracket. What we disapprove of is giving a financial incentive to be able to say we have a higher average SAT score."

On top of the $300 credit for taking the test, students who scored higher than 50 points received an additional $1,000 per year to their financial aid package. If a student entered a higher scholarship bracket with their new score, they qualified to receive the added funds.

Green said the senate motion was not unanimous, with about five percent of members expressing approval for the financial incentives.

"Those who opposed the motion were adamant and said they didn't see anything wrong with it. They believed it helped the students," Green said.

Of the 861 students who retested this summer, 151 students improved their score by at least 50 points and received the $1,000 scholarships.

One Faculty Senate member, who wished to remain anonymous, said she was hurt and surprised by the financial incentives.

"I've never heard of another university doing something like this. It just seems so unethical to me," she said. "I don't like the idea of Baylor paying students to retake the SAT, and I was surprised to see that a few people actually agreed with it."

Faculty Senate also addressed tenure policy revisions, which were released in their most updated form at the end of September. Green said the latest version lacks policies for denied tenure candidates to make appeals. After a long discussion, Green said Faculty Senate voted to recommend these be included in the final draft.

Senate members also agreed to add a statement issued by the American Association of University Professors on the faculty's role in tenure decisions.

The statement says: "The president should, on questions of faculty status, as in other matters where the faculty has primary responsibility, concur with the faculty judgment, except in rare instances and for compelling reasons which should be stated in detail."

In other words, tenure is primarily a faculty decision that the university president should agree with, except in rare and "compelling" cases.

Green said the Faculty Senate suggested that the term "promotions" be taken out of the draft, due to the fact the document is mainly concerned with tenure.

Other, more minute changes were made regarding language used in the annual review process.

Green said the recommendations will be presented to Interim Provost Elizabeth Davis next week.

Once the Council of Deans submits its recommendations, the provost's office will lead discussions and negotiations to finalize the tenure policies.

"We hope to have a chance to look over a final draft in the senate before it goes to the president for approval," Green said.

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