New withdrawal policy begins this Fall semester
Students will no longer need permission from their professors.
By Deepa Sampat
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
Next year, students who want to drop a class will see a different mark on their transcripts and won’t have to get their instructor’s permission.
University Senate passed a new withdrawal policy, which will be implemented in the fall. Instead of receiving a “WP,” withdrawn passing, or a “WF,” withdrawn failing, after students drop a class, they will simply receive a “W,” withdrawn. Also, students will no longer be required to obtain a signature to drop a class from their instructor. Instead, they must follow the drop procedures required by the specific school in which they are enrolled.
Joan Hahn, assistant registrar at the Office of the University Registrar, said when a student dropped a class, they automatically received a “W.” She said she thought students would benefit from the new policy because it would provide consistency in marks and because it eliminated the use of discretion by the instructor.
“It provides more opportunity for equity for the students,” Hahn said.
Rick Levy, former president of Faculty Senate, said the Academic Policies and Procedures Committee recommended the change of policy for two reasons. He said instructors had no consistent understanding of what warranted a “WF” or “WP” mark. For example, some instructors would give students a “WF” if they never came to class, even if they meant to drop the class but just forgot to do so.
“The intention was not to penalize students but help students that withdrew,” Levy said.
Another reason for the revision was the hassle of obtaining instructors’ signatures to drop a course. Levy said many times students were waiting until the last minute to drop a course and were unable to get a signature by the deadline.
“Students weren’t necessarily planning far enough in advance,” Levy said. “They didn’t know whether the faculty member was going to be in town or out of town.”
Marianne Berry, University Senate president, said she didn’t have a strong opinion about whether to change the policy, but she thought the new policy would make the withdrawal process more convenient for students because they didn’t have to obtain an instructor’s permission to drop a class.
“It makes it more straightforward,” Berry said. “They could do it more quickly and be in charge of their own destiny.”
Levy said the original proposal had to be reworded to clarify ambiguities. The revisions to the proposal clarified that a mark of “W” would not be included in a student’s grade point average, that neither an instructor nor a school could withhold a student’s withdrawal in the second withdrawal period, and that it was the student’s responsibility to complete the withdrawal procedures of his or her school.
“None of those changes were actual changes to the policy,” Levy said. “Those were all things that were understood but not explicit.”
Geraldo de Sousa, chair of Academic Policies and Procedures, said University Senate showed widespread support for the policy change.
“The new policy greatly simplifies the course withdrawal process,” he said.
The withdrawal policy affects students who drop a class in the second withdrawal period, which is the 16th though the 60th instructional day of the semester.
— Edited by Mandy Earles
Discussion
All comments are moderated by Kansan.com staff. For our full user policy, click here.
Share your 2¢
Requires free registration.