The chair of the psychology department Thursday encouraged the Council on Academic Affairs to take a closer look at the enforcement of prerequisites.

Bill Addison, psychology department chair, told the CAA that prerequisites are in place to ensure to students are adequately prepared for secondary courses, and a system needs to be implemented so students cannot register for courses without first taking the necessary prerequisites.

“For us, the prerequisites are there for a reason, and they are there to help students survive the second course,” he said.

Addison said flags should be in the registration system that prevent students from registering for courses for which they haven’t met the prerequisites. He said he doesn’t believe teachers should be held responsible for policing the requirements.

“I don’t think that’s our job,” he said.

CAA member Anita Shelton, chair of the history department, agreed with Addison at Thursday’s meeting. Shelton said when students register for a class they are not prepared for, it becomes the instructor’s responsibility to inform the student. She said by the time a student arrives for the first day of class, his or her options for registering for another course are limited.

Addison said another problem is that sometimes a student might skip a prerequisite for a course, but then have to go back and take the course to complete the requirement of a major. If a student does have to go back and take a lower level course that they skipped, they cannot receive credit hours if they have already completed the upper division course.

“That kind of defeats the purpose of the prerequisite,” Addison said.

CAA Chair Andrew Methven, a biological sciences professor, said Provost Blair Lord was interested in discussing the prerequisite matter but couldn’t attend Thursday’s CAA meeting because of a prior commitment.

CAA member Timothy Shonk, an English professor, mentioned the possibility of having the provost contact Information Technology Services and inquiring why they haven’t been able to implement a flag system.

CAA member Julie Dietz, an associate health studies professor, said other universities have been able to implement such a system, but Eastern has not.

Mary Herrington Perry, assistant vice president for academic affairs, told the CAA that while ITS may have not been able to implement a flag system yet, it should offer an explanation as to why.

“At the very least, you deserve something in writing that explains the situation,” she said.

The CAA also continued discussion on the approval of special courses and workshops at Thursday’s meeting.

Perry said she investigated the history of the approval of such courses, and her research, which went back 30 years, revealed almost no official records. Perry said it would be a good idea to start from scratch and seek to clearly define what a special course or workshop is and how one is implemented.

Shonk agreed clear definitions need to be established.

However, the council decided to postpone discussion to a later date in which the provost could participate.

In other business, the CAA approved two academic revisions.

PSY 3601, “Psychological Measurements: Fundamental Principles,” was changed to PSY 4620. Addison told the council that the course level change was appropriate because the course entailed a prerequisite and already included a high level of academic complexity.

The grade point average requirement for admission into the communication disorders and sciences major was lowered from 2.85 to 2.75.

Gail Richard, chair of the department, said the change was necessary because of a course restructuring that took place a few years ago. Richard said of the seven introductory course hours, six are currently science hours, and only one hour is assigned to an intro course.

She said that setup puts too much emphasis on the sciences and could keep a student who received a C in one of the science courses out of the major, which was not consistent with the department’s intention.

Next week’s CAA meeting is canceled, so council members can attend the Fall Forum, which is co-sponsored by the CAA.