The Academic Council approved a number of changes to academic policy during its Tuesday meeting, including allowing students to take as many credit/no-credit classes per semester as they wish.

The University Committee on Academic Policy proposed a change in the credit/no credit policy and it was approved by the council. Some university classes can be taken for credit, with no grade recorded, if a student performs at a 2.0 level or above.

The previous language stated that undergraduate students could not enroll in more than one credit/no-credit course in a semester and could not enroll in more than 20 credits in all semesters.

"(The change) provides undergraduates with greater flexibility," said Bridget Behe, chairperson of the policy committee.

A proposed amendment to change the bylaws for the Academic Governance system also was approved, but the MSU Board of Trustees will need to vote on the issue before it goes into effect.

Jonathan Walton, chairperson of the University Committee on Academic Governance, said the amendment helps clarify language specifying the members of ASMSU's Academic Assembly who can serve as undergraduate student representatives on Academic Council.

"It's complicated because there was a question about members vs. nonmembers," Walton said. "ASMSU included all students, so everybody is a member and it wasn't clear what they meant by member."

The amendment would change the word member to representative.

Other action included the approval of the University Committee on Curriculum's suggested program actions.

A new women, gender, and social justice specialization was created and about 15 program deletions phasing out of remaining urban studies curriculum were included in the report.

The council also approved a change in the constitution of the gender identity committee. Jacqueline Wright, secretary for Academic Governance and professor of nursing, proposed the change to get the needed number of faculty members on the committee.

"We are having a great deal of difficulty getting someone to serve," she said. "We've already missed three months."

The change in committee makeup allows a second Executive Committee of Academic Council member to serve as a faculty at-large member on the committee.

The committee now will consist of two undergraduate students, one graduate student, two executive committee members and one faculty member.