Two instances of possible course overlap caused by miscommunication were discussed at the Council on Academic Affairs meeting on Thursday.

An email from Grant Sterling, a philosophy professor, to the CAA stated that the School of Continuing Education course BGS 3988P is almost identical to the existing political science course PLS 3233.

“The course is on terrorism, and it uses the same textbook as PLS 3233, International Terrorism,” Sterling stated. “The (political science) department was not consulted in the creation nor in the staffing of this course.”

During the meeting, Christopher Mitchell, the chairman of the CAA, said he thinks the issue may go beyond the overlap with the idea of being able to create course content without giving the relevant department a chance to review it.

“Our department often offers courses through SCE, especially during the summer, and it would be highly damaging to us if SCE can simply create their own courses substantially identical to ours and put them forward at the same time we’re trying to get enough enrollment for our own classes to succeed,” Sterling stated.

Doug Klarup, a chemistry professor and CAA member, said more data would be helpful to have a better understanding of how often this occurs.

The members decided to postpone any action until more research was gathered.

The other overlap of courses discussed was between the proposed course Career Planning/Transitions, BGS 3002, and Principles of Career Development, OPD 4810.

Diana Wyatt, an assistant professor in the Lumpkin College of Business and Applied Sciences, is the instructor for OPD 4810, and she came to the meeting to address her concerns.

“The OPD 4810 course has been in our program for the past 20 years and looking at the course proposal for BGS 3002, it is very much duplicated to the course we already have and we are very concerned with the impact of this,” Wyatt said.

The council members decided to postpone the item.

Mitchell said the action was postponed to allow the parties to talk and reach a decision, and it is possible that the course will be resubmitted to the CAA at a later date.

“We do not want to push through a course proposal that hasn’t addressed all of the relevant concerns,” Mitchell said.

The CAA also made revisions to the film studies interdisciplinary minor and the English honors admission requirements.

Revisions to the Course Proposal Format were discussed and tabled.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].