Although academic good standing policy proponent Nicolas Goodman, vice provost for undergraduate education, maintains that the policy is merely a codification of rules that have existed for some time, others argue that it unfairly prejudices students with decent academic credentials who simply suffer "a bad semester."

The policy places students on academic probation for not achieving a 2.0 grade-point average or failing to complete 75 percent of the credits for which they registered. Probation can cause student-athletes to lose NCAA eligibility, student government leaders to lose their offices and it can prevent students from participating in extracurricular activities.

Last fall, the first semester during which the policy was put into effect, more than 4,000 undergraduates, over one-quarter of the undergraduate student body, found themselves on academic probation. By contrast, at the opposite end of the academic spectrum, only 1,186 students made the university's "Dean's List," according to Goodman.

Grading Committee Chair Tho- mas Schroeder, whose committee had been charged with fixing the policy, offered a lukewarm endorsement to a draft amendment from his committee which, he said, "pleases at least some people." However, after extended discussion, the FSEC sent Schroeder back to try again. Additional amendments to the policy are due to be considered by the FSEC today.

Several FSEC members criticized the formulaic nature of the policy, arguing that people, not computers, should make judgments about individual cases. Goodman disagreed, however, arguing that the policy should be kept "objective, not subjective," and that it would be very difficult to make individual decisions on 4,000 students.

Law School Professor Errol Meidinger criticized the policy for imposing unintended consequences on students. "I recently reviewed a law school application in which a particular applicant explained why she had been placed on academic probation, even though we don't ask that question on our application," he explained.

"However, I believe many law schools do ask whether you have ever been on academic probation, and if the answer is yes, I suspect the applications are rejected." Meidinger called the current policy "not intelligent" and "not particularly rational."

On the budget front, Chair Claude Welch informed FSEC members that, according to Senior Vice President Robert Wagner, SUNY was now expecting significant TAP restoration and full restoration of the Capital Equipment budget, but that there is little likelihood that any form of differential tuition will be adopted this year. Wagner spoke about the budget items during a meeting of the Budget Priorities Committee, Welch explained. On Monday, for the 12th straight year, the state entered the new fiscal year without a budget in place.

D. Scott Danford, chair of the Facilities Planning Committee, and Richard Noll, Manager of Planning & Programs in University Facilities, briefed FSEC members on progress being made in bringing state-of-the-art teaching technology to as many of the 153 centrally scheduled classrooms as possible.

To date, explained Danford, 15 rooms have been converted into "E-Tech Rooms." These classrooms offer televisions, VCRs, personal computers, satellite hookups and the like, he explained, at a cost of roughly $100,000 per room. "Our dream would be to equip 40 to 50 rooms like this," said Noll, explaining that input from faculty would be important in determining how best to spend limited funds in the future.

Student Representative Laura Cornwell told Noll that more technical help needs to be provided for faculty members in utilizing the new teaching aids. "Too much time gets wasted when a teacher can't figure out how something works and sends for help," she said.

Another limitation, Noll explained, is that only a small portion of the campus' classrooms are centrally scheduled. Roughly 80 percent of classrooms are owned by schools or departments. However, Noll hopes to bring more space under the control of central scheduling

"This summer, for instance, we will completely renovate the Moot Court Room in O'Brian Hall into a first-class, centrally scheduled E-Tech Classroom," said Noll, "and we will build the law school a more usable Moot Court Room elsewhere in O'Brian."

Noll said that the Pataki administration had placed a freeze on new SUNY construction, putting a halt to the planned Student Services and Natural Sciences & Mathematics Phase II projects. However, negotiations are under way to allow construction of a scaled-back version of NSM II, which would bring a small, two- story structure to house the Mathematics and Geology faculty, as well as the Dean's offices, to the North Campus, but include no additional teaching space.