Academic Standards Committee Meeting
March 13, 2013
In Attendance : Brad Tomhave, Debbie Chee, Duane Hulbert, Sarah Moore, Jill
Nealey-Moore, Danny Laesch, Lori Ricigliano, Don Share, Landon Wade, Jan
Leuchtenberger and Bianca Wolf.
Approval of Minutes
The February 27 minutes were approved.
Petitions for the Period 02/07/2013 TO 03/06/2013
The Petitions Sub-Committee held meetings on February 13, February 20, and February 27; the meeting scheduled for March 6 was cancelled for lack of petitions. Petitions work yielded the following results:
7 Approved Late Registrations
1 Denied Late Registration
1 Approved change of registration from graded to audit
1 Approved Registration with a Schedule Conflict
1 Denied Registration with a Schedule Conflict
2 Approved Medical Withdrawals
1 Approved second repeat
1 Approved Waiver of Minimum GPA Required for Independent Study
1 Approved application of alternative courses to Foreign Language Requirement
1 Approved drop without record after the deadline
1 Denied extension of deadline for replying to Hearing Board
18 Total Petitions
Registrar Approved: 3
Preview Team Approved: 5
Sub-Committee Approved: 7
Total Approved: 15
Sub-Committee Denied: 3
Total Petitions: 18
For the year to date, 181 petitions have been acted upon with 32 involving late registration and 59 involving registration with a schedule conflict. (For comparison, by March 6, 2012,
166 petitions had been acted upon with 46 involving late registration and 31 involving registration with a schedule conflict.)
Of the 181 total petitions to date, 159 have been approved and 22 have been denied.

Hearing Board
Sarah Moore reported on the results of the most recent Hearing Board. The student in question showed remorse and a willingness to learn from the experience.
No sanctions were imposed but student is required to turn a copy of all assignments in to Sarah to be checked, and has already complied with the first assignment.
Credit Hour Policy
Sarah Moore reported that the credit hour policy approved by this committee at the last meeting had also been approved by the Senate and put in place.
Student Bereavement Policy
A few changes were suggested in the wording of the revised draft. The committee discussed whether or not bereavement applied only to death and not to other difficult news about serious illnesses in family members, and the conclusion was that it would only apply to death. There was further discussion about whether this policy would supersede faculty members’ individual class policies. Sarah Moore said that the policy is intended to supersede individual faculty policies, but that there may be more discussion about this in the Senate.
The Committee voted unanimously to approve the revised student bereavement policy (see Addendum for policy). Sarah Moore said that she would let
Brad Dillman know that the policy was available for Senate discussion and that if they did want to discuss it, the ASC could provide additional documents to explain the background of the policy.
Warnings for Academic Performance
Debbie Chee proposed a change to the policy used to sanction and warn students about poor academic performance. The university calculates each student’s total quality points (TQP) at the end of the semester. Total quality points are the points needed to maintain a 2.0 grade point average. If a student gets Cs in all four units, she receives 0 quality points. Three Cs and a B would equal 1 quality point, and three Cs and a D would equal -1 quality point. Under the current system, students whose quality points fall between 0 and -1 (for example, a student who received three Cs and on C-) do not receive a warning or sanction.
Debbie Chee and Sarah Moore pointed out that students who hover in this range and do not improve do not receive warnings but are also on a path that will not allow them to graduate. Both Sarah and Debbie argued that warning these students would get their attention and possibly encourage them to get help sooner.
Sarah also pointed out that students who go on to do even worse in a following semester cannot be dismissed because they have not yet received a warning.
Waiting another semester to proceed to dismissal only “prolongs the inevitable” and does not support the students in finding the help they need.
Debbie proposed changing the policy so that students who receive between 0 and -1 quality points also receive warnings. Sarah Moore suggested that the letter for these students might be worded less sternly while still providing the warning.

Bianca Wolf pointed out that in some fields a lower GPA is more common and she wondered if a larger number of students in the 0 to -1 range came from these disciplines. The Committee decided to ask Brad Tomhave and Debbie Chee to gather data on this point for discussion at the next meeting.
Items for the Next Meeting
Don Share proposed that the committee consider the following matters at the next meeting:
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Continued discussion of warnings for academic performance.
Attendance policies.
The meeting was adjourned at 4 pm.
Minutes submitted by Jan Leuchtenberger
ADDENDUM
Student Bereavement Policy
The University of Puget Sound recognizes that a time of bereavement can be difficult for a student. Therefore, the University provides a Student Bereavement Policy for students facing the loss of a family member.
Students are normally eligible for, and faculty are expected to grant, three consecutive weekdays of excused absences, without penalty, for the death of a family member, including parent, grandparent, sibling, or persons living in the same household. Should the student feel that additional days are necessary, the student must request additional bereavement leave from the Dean of Students’ or the Dean’s designee. In the event of the death of another family member or friend not explicitly included within this policy, a bereaved student may petition for grief absence through the Dean of Students’ Office for approval.
Procedure:
To request bereavement leave, a student must notify the Dean of Students’ Office by email, phone, or in person about the death of the family member. When bereavement leave is approved, the Dean of Students’ Office will notify the student and the Office of Academic Advising. In turn, Academic Advising will notify the student’s instructors and advisor of the dates of excused absences for bereavement leave. When the student returns from leave, the student must submit to the Dean of
Students’ Office an obituary notice, a funeral or memorial program, or other documentation regarding the death of the family member.
While this policy excuses a student from class attendance, the student remains responsible for missed academic work. Therefore, the student is to seek the advice of each instructor to consider the options and to establish a plan to compensate for coursework missed during bereavement leave. For more information, please contact the Dean of Students’ Office.

Suggested language for Course Syllabi :
Student Bereavement Policy
Upon approval from the Dean of Students’ Office, students who experience a death in the family, including parent, grandparent, sibling, or persons living in the same household, are allowed three consecutive weekdays of excused absences, as negotiated with the Dean of Students’. For more information, please see the
Academic Handbook .