A proposal to integrate three departments within the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources was approved by the Executive Committee of Academic Council on Tuesday.
The proposal now heads to the MSU Board of Trustees for the final decision.
The three departments, Agriculture and Natural Resources Education and Communications Systems; Resource Development; and Park, Recreation, and Tourism Resources, would be grouped into the collective Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies. The Board will consider the proposal at its next meeting on Nov. 14.
The original proposal, introduced in the spring of 2002, wasn't approved for further review, because it didn't adequately explain how the changes would affect the departments, MSU Provost Lou Anna Simon said.
"It's taken a bit of time to be able to bring the proposal to a condition where there is a clear understanding what the future of the departments will be," Simon said.
If integrated, the departments would include a total of 275 undergraduate students, 200 graduate students and 44 faculty members. Simon said the proposed integration would not affect tenured faculty.
"No tenured faculty will lose their job because of the restructuring," Simon said. "Any reductions within the college will be a function of budget issues, not a function of the merger."
Because the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources depends heavily upon research grants, combining the three departments would enable MSU to be more competitive for grant money, said Jeffrey Armstrong, the college's dean.
"The majority of graduate students come off research grants," Armstrong said. "As we move forward, we are better able to get those grants."
But not every committee member said the planning of the proposed integration was as thorough as possible.
Adam Raezler, one of ASMSU's undergraduate representatives serving on the committee, said he spoke directly with ASMSU representatives from the college and the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Student Senate who were disappointed by the quick proceeding of the proposal.
"They told me they were mad that they were ignored in the merging of these departments," Raezler said at the meeting. "And if students are ignored, you're obviously not going to get an immense amount of support in the overwhelming majority."
Armstrong said the students who were upset about the implementation of the integration were primarily undergraduates who weren't around during the restructuring of the proposal, which occurred during the summer.
The council also approved forwarding a proposal to change the name of the Women's Studies Program to the Program in Women, Gender, and Social Justice to the University Committee on Academic Policy.
Jayne Schuiteman, interim director of the Women's Studies Program, said the change is necessary to broaden the idea of what women's studies encompasses.
