A campus of The California
State University
Office of the Academic
Senate • One Washington Square • San
Jose, California 95192-0024
•408-924-2440 Fax: 408-924-2451
SS-F04-2
At its meeting of
SENSE OF THE
SENATE RESOLUTION
ENDORSING ACTIVITIES TO BUILD A CULTURE OF READING AT SJSU
Whereas,
Whereas, Having a
group of individuals read a book together (a common reading project) can help
build a sense of community and can introduce students to the nature of a
university learning experience.
Whereas, Professors often find that many
students do not read periodicals, novels and materials beyond class
assignments.
Whereas, A July 2004 report from the National
Endowment for the Arts found “an overall decline of 10 percentage points in
literary readers from 1982 to 2002, representing a loss of 20 million potential
readers. The rate of decline is increasing and, according to the survey, has
nearly tripled in the last decade.”[1]
Whereas, San José State’s Educational
Opportunity Program (EOP)[2]
created a Reading Day initiative in fall 2004 to help build a culture of
reading on campus with the following goals:
1. Enhance student development by creating
opportunities for becoming life long learners.
2. Promote EOP’s legacy
of access, student services and retention.
3. Make positive connections with incoming and
continuing EOP students.
4. Acknowledge key departments on campus with a
“historical legacy of support.”
5. Engage the greater
6. Broaden EOP partnerships.
7. Bring awareness to literacy issues impacting
the SJSU and
8. Shed some positive light on recent negative
news regarding EOP budget cuts and pending threats. EOP is viable and important
to the state, the city and to SJSU.
9. Invite middle and high school youth to
participate.
10. Institutionalize this program and expand it
to include other literary activities.
Whereas, The Reading Day initiative aims to get
EOP and other students to commit to read beyond their course assigned reading
by setting aside at least one half hour every Thursday during the fall 2004
term to read. The EOP Office has designated several locations on campus as “EOP
Reading Day” lounges. The EOP Office plans to continue and expand this effort
in future semesters.
Whereas, The following
departments will have books and other materials in their discipline on reserve
for visitors to the
African
American Studies, WSQ 219
Asian
American Studies,
Mexican
American Studies, YUH 31
MOSAIC,
Student Union
Whereas, In Fall 2002, at the start of the MUSE program,
a reading project was created for students, but needs funding and wider campus
buy-in to help our new students to see that SJSU promotes a culture of reading
to help students to become university scholars and lifelong learners; therefore
be it
Resolved, That the
Academic Senate applaud and encourage the EOP Office’s efforts to help build a
culture of reading among SJSU students.
Resolved, That where
possible, Senators identify Reading Day areas in their colleges and units and
inform the EOP Office of their locations and hours.
Resolved, That the Academic Senate encourage the
Orientation and MUSE programs to expose new students to our culture of reading
through some type of summer reading program, as many universities conduct
today.[3]
Resolved, That the
Academic Senate encourage all members of the campus community to find
appropriate ways to model and promote a culture of reading that will enable
that culture to grow and endure. In addition to Reading Day lounges and summer
reading programs, such activities might include campus lectures by authors,
working with local schools to promote reading, and
common reading projects in colleges and across campus.
Vote: 13-0-0
Present: Donoho, Nellen, Van Selst, Ashton,
Absent: Goodman, Rascoe
Financial Impact: Minimal, but summer reading programs and greater
publicity for Reading Day would require funds.