Minutes
Academic Standards Committee
September 19, 2011
Present: Paula Wilson, Maddi Werhane, Kali Odell, Landon Wade, Lori Ricigliano, Gary
McCall, Debbie Chee, Duane Hulbert, Brad Tomhave, Bill Barry, Ben Lewin, Sarah Moore, and
Ann Wilson
Minutes: The approval of the minutes of the meeting of September 7, 2011 was deferred.
Discussion of secretarial duties:
The committee decided to rotate secretarial duties amongst members of the committee. Debbie
Chee was appointed to go first; others will follow in alphabetical order.
Review of charges to the ASC from the Senate for AY 2011-2012
The committee accepted the charges from the Senate and arranged them in the order below:
1. The ASC will explore the desired criteria for graduating with university honors and
revise the policies and procedures to be consistent with any revisions in the criteria.
2. The ASC will continue the discussion and development of effective and innovative
means to foster the implementation of the Honor Code. As a subset of this charge, the
ASC will continue its discussions to develop a course of action(s) that facilitates
faculty education and provides practical guidelines and suggestions for course
procedures to minimize the utility of note-sharing and similar websites.
3. The ASC will further explore establishing a policy and procedure for staff to report
violations of academic integrity. In addition, the adjudication and ramifications of a
violation should be clear, as well as consistent with existing policies for academic
violations.
Other topics were considered as charges.
- Expansion of the attendance policy – The Senate declined to give the ASC this
charge. In turn, ASC is not asking the Senate to reconsider.
- The ASC did request the Senate to charge the Curriculum Committee to create
guidelines for the foreign language requirement. These guidelines will assist the ASC
as they handle petitions for acceptations to the requirement. The senate charged the
Curriculum Committee.
- Incomplete Grading Policy – The ASC is not requesting a charge from the Senate to
further work on this topic at this time.
Membership of the petitions subcommittee during the fall semester. The petitions
subcommittee will meet on Mondays at noon. The following comprise the petitions
subcommittee for the fall 2011 semester: Tim Beyer, Debbie Chee, Greg Elliott, Robin
Jacobson, Sarah Moore, Amy Odegard, Kali Odell, Brad Tomhave, Maddi Werhane, and Bianca
Wolf. Sarah Moore will encourage some members of the petitions subcommittee to attend the
ASC meetings to insure coordination between the two bodies.
Authority delegated to Office of the Registrar and Petition Preview Team. Brad Tomhave
distributed a document (Appendix A) specifying powers that in the past have been delegated by
the ASC to the Office of the Registrar and to the Petition Preview Team. The committee voted
to reaffirm the delegation of authority as set forth in that document.
Petitions Committee Report:
Petitions for the Period 04/23/2011 – 08/31/2011
The Petitions Sub-Committee met 12 times since the last petitions report in April: April 29, May
6, May 13, May 27 (also the undergraduate sanction meeting), June 7 (also the graduate sanction
meeting), June 22, July 6, July 15, July 28, August 17, August 26, and August 31. During the
dates covered by this report, the following actions were taken:
10 Approved Late Adds
8 Approved Reinstatements or Readmissions after Suspension or Dismissal
4 Denied Reinstatements or Readmissions
4 Approved Re-Enrollments from a Medical Withdrawal
1 Denied Change of Dismissal Period from Year to Semester
6 Approved Registrations with Schedule Conflicts
4 Approved Medical Withdrawals
4 Approved Waivers of the “Last 8 Units Rule”
2 Approved Second Attempts at Repeating a Course
3 Approved Waivers of the “6-Year Rule”
1 Approved Exception to the Limit of 1 Independent Study per Term
1 Approved Waiver of Minimum GPA for Independent Study
3 Approved Exceptions to Exclusion of a Regular Course as Independent Study
1 Approved Waiver of Upper-Class Standing for Independent Study
2 Approved Transfers of Community College Credit as Upper-Class Student
1 Approved Application of Alternate Classes to Foreign Language Requirement
1 Denied Application of Alternate Classes to Foreign Language Requirement
1 Approval of Alternate Course to the Upper-Division Requirement
2 Approved Withdrawals with W Grade After Automatic W Period
5 Denied Withdrawals with W Grade After Automatic W Period
64 Total Petitions
Registrar Approved: 8
Preview Team Approved: 11
Sub-Committee Approved: 34
Total Approved: 53
Sub-Committee Denied: 11
Total Petitions: 64
For the year, 227 petitions were acted upon with 186 approved and 41 denied. (For comparison,
last year 264 petitions were acted upon with 215 approved, 48 denied, and 1 not acted upon.)
Please note the 100 sanction actions taken on May 27 were reported separately. The actions
taken on June 7 are not generally reported. For the Committee’s reference, 2 graduate students
were dismissed, 1 was continued on probation, and 2 were placed on probation.
Petitions for the period 09/01/2011 – 09/12/2011
The Petitions Preview Team held a meeting on September 7, 2011, and the Petitions SubCommittee held a meeting on September 12, 2011, the meetings yielded the following results:
5 approved time conflicts.
1 denied time conflict.
1 approved waiver of the “Last 8 Units Rule.”
1 approved waiver of the policy requiring graduation within 6 years of matriculation.
8 Total Petitions
Registrar Approved: 0
Preview Team Approved: 3
Sub-Committee Approved: 4
Total Approved: 7
Sub-Committee Denied: 1
Total Petitions: 8
Gary McCall motioned to end the meeting and Duane Hulbert seconded the motion.
Submitted by Debbie Chee
Appendix A
ACADEMIC STANDARDS COMMITTEE
UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND
AUTHORITY DELEGATED TO THE OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR
Fall 2011 – Summer 2012
(Approved September 19, 2011)
1. PETITION PREVIEW TEAM.
The Registrar may chair a “Petition Preview Team” asking the Associate Academic Dean who
serves on the Academic Standards Committee and the Director of Academic Advising to join
in a review of petitions submitted by students to the Academic Standards Committee. If the
Preview Team unanimously finds that it is reasonable to expect that the Petitions SubCommittee would approve a particular petition and that the Sub-Committee would not
object to the Preview Team doing so, then the Preview Team may approve that petition.
(The Preview Team’s primary task is to relieve the Petitions Sub-Committee of work on
ordinary issues for which the Sub-Committee has a history of approval.)
In delegating the authority to approve, the Academic Standards Committee reserves the
authority to deny a petition to the Petitions Sub-Committee.
2. MINIMUM GRADE POINT AVERAGE FOR INDEPENDENT STUDY.
The Registrar may approve a petition for the waiver of the minimum grade point average
required for an independent study provided:
The independent study will be supervised by the student’s major department as
indicated by department code for the independent study and by the supervising
instructor’s department affiliation.
The student’s cumulative grade point average is 2.67 or higher.
The student has maintained good academic standing.
The student’s major grade point average is 3.00 or higher.
The student has instructor and advisor support.
The independent study instructor had another class with the student in which the
student earned a grade of ‘B’ or higher.
The Independent Study Contract and all required supporting documents complete the
requirements described in the Independent Study Policy.
Academic Standards Committee
Delegated Authority
Fall 2011 - Summer 2012
Page 2
3. LATE ADD.
The Registrar’s Office may extend a grace period up to the end of the 2nd week of the Fall
or Spring semester to allow a student to register for a course without completing a Late Add
Petition provided:
The student made arrangements with the Registrar’s Office to do so on or before the
last day to add.
The student has been attending the class in question since either its first or second
meeting.
In the judgment of the Registrar’s staff member, the student has a good reason for
not having registered on time.
Following the 2nd week of class, a student may only register with an approved Late Add
Petition. The Registrar may approve such a petition provided:
The student has no prior Late Add Petition.
The student presents a reasonable explanation for not having registered on time.
And, the student is:
Changing sections of a previously registered class.
Changing levels within a Mathematics or Foreign Language sequence.*
Registering for a course required for graduation in the current or subsequent
term.
Complying with an Academic Improvement Plan or Performance Agreement.
Registering to fulfill scholarship requirements.
Registering for a co-op or internship provided the coordinator verifies that because of
the placement process earlier registration could not be accomplished. (It is not
always possible for the work calendar at the placement site to correspond to the
University’s academic calendar.)
*NOTE: The “drop-back” period in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Foreign Language
courses is about a month to allow students and faculty time to properly assess a student’s
placement. No petition is required within this period.
Academic Standards Committee
Delegated Authority
Fall 2011 - Summer 2012
Page 3
4. REGISTRATION FOR COURSES HAVING A TIME CONFLICT.
Given compelling circumstances, the Registrar may approve a petition to register for
courses having time conflicts in the following combinations:
Lecture class and a day of another lecture class provided the student avoids the conflict
by attending another section of that class.
Lecture class and a portion of a lab class provided the lecture is fully attended and the
missed lab is made-up at another specified time.
Lecture class and a portion of a Music performance group provided the lecture is fully
attended and the performance is made-up with another group, attended late, or missed
on only one day.
Lecture class and a portion of a PE activity provided the lecture is fully attended and the
missed PE activity will be made-up at another specified time.
Lecture class and a portion of a studio Art class provided the lecture is fully attended
and the missed studio is made-up at another specified time.
Lecture class and a portion of a Business Leadership Seminar provided the lecture is
fully attended and the missed Seminar is made-up at another specified time.
Two studio Art classes provided one is fully attended and the missed portion of the other
is made-up at another specified time.
Lab class and a PE or Music activity provided the lab is fully attended and the activity will
accommodate the lab.
Note: CRDV 203 Career Awareness is an activity course but is to be considered a
lecture course in this context.
The Registrar may also approve a petition for courses having time conflicts to help a student
who is a victim of circumstance resulting from a faculty-initiated course schedule change to
include a student who is changing class levels in science or language.
The Academic Standards Committee reserves the authority to deny any time conflict petition
and to consider petitions in the following circumstances:
Two conflicting lecture classes.
Lecture class and a full lab.
In such cases, exceptional and compelling circumstances must be presented with support
from the instructors that overcomes the Committee’s natural reluctance to approve a
petition that may result in the instructor having to teach what could become an additional
section and that may also result in the student being deprived of an appropriate educational
experience.