2008 Woodie Awards
Should we change the withdrawal policy?
Matt Flanagan
Opinion Editor
Issue date: 10/15/07 Section: Opinion
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Here's a scenario for you: Let's take a student who hadn't been doing so well in his MA125 course (cough cough, ME) his first year, and so he tried and tried to make better grades. Well, making the grades takes a lot of work he didn't realize he would need, so he goes to outside sources for help: SI sessions, friends and family, etc. Still no good.
However, when the time comes for him to make the decision to shape up or ship out -- i.e., when the late withdrawal period comes around -- if this scenario happened today, the faculty senate is recommending that the students would need to go to their teacher and have them sign a waiver saying they'll "allow" the student to drop.
This is a fact. The handbook and policy committee, chaired by Dr. Eric Loomis of the philosophy department, was responsible for creating the proposal. The stated goal of this change is to increase the dialogue between students and teachers regarding the withdrawal option, and in doing so, eliminate - hopefully - any unnecessary withdrawals by offering students a greater chance to improve their grade.
As of Sept. 19, the resolution was adopted by the faculty senate.
If and when the resolution is put into effect by University administration forms, forms and more forms will be needed! There will need to be a form for each and every student at USA, which amounts to approximately 14,000 forms. That's a lot of paper to use for this measure.
More importantly, the policy itself will slow the process of withdrawing from class. The ease of PAWS has served me and the rest of USA well over the years, but it may soon no longer be that simple: Instead of withdrawing from a class at 11:58 p.m. the night the period ends - and after a long, carefully thought-out period of contemplation, taking up all the time left in the semester - I'll have to withdraw sometime after talking to my professor (or dean of that college) and getting it approved. This means I'll have to bother a teacher during office hours just to tell him or her that "I need to withdraw: My grades aren't what they should be, and I know it'll hurt my GPA," etc. It seems like an unnecessary bother to the teachers.
However, when the time comes for him to make the decision to shape up or ship out -- i.e., when the late withdrawal period comes around -- if this scenario happened today, the faculty senate is recommending that the students would need to go to their teacher and have them sign a waiver saying they'll "allow" the student to drop.
This is a fact. The handbook and policy committee, chaired by Dr. Eric Loomis of the philosophy department, was responsible for creating the proposal. The stated goal of this change is to increase the dialogue between students and teachers regarding the withdrawal option, and in doing so, eliminate - hopefully - any unnecessary withdrawals by offering students a greater chance to improve their grade.
As of Sept. 19, the resolution was adopted by the faculty senate.
If and when the resolution is put into effect by University administration forms, forms and more forms will be needed! There will need to be a form for each and every student at USA, which amounts to approximately 14,000 forms. That's a lot of paper to use for this measure.
More importantly, the policy itself will slow the process of withdrawing from class. The ease of PAWS has served me and the rest of USA well over the years, but it may soon no longer be that simple: Instead of withdrawing from a class at 11:58 p.m. the night the period ends - and after a long, carefully thought-out period of contemplation, taking up all the time left in the semester - I'll have to withdraw sometime after talking to my professor (or dean of that college) and getting it approved. This means I'll have to bother a teacher during office hours just to tell him or her that "I need to withdraw: My grades aren't what they should be, and I know it'll hurt my GPA," etc. It seems like an unnecessary bother to the teachers.
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