Academic Standards Committee Minutes
February 6, 2014
In Attendance: Drew Anderson, Debbie Chee, Ken Clark, Karl Fields, Sunil Kukreja, Mary
Rose Lamb, Jan Leuchtenberger, Lori Ricigliano, Brad “Raul” Tomhave, Landon Wade
1. Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the December 6, 2013 meeting were approved by
e-mail.
2. Petitions Report for the Period 11/27/2013 – 01/29/2014
During the dates covered by this report, the following actions were taken on petitions
submitted to the Academic Standards Committee:
1 Approved Late Add
12 Approved Readmissions or Reinstatements
9 Denied Readmissions or Reinstatements
1 Approved Request to Remain Registered While Appealing Suspension
6 Approved Re-enrollments from a Medical Withdrawal
1 Denied Re-enrollment from a Medical Withdrawal
1 Denied Request to Rescind an Academic Sanction
8 Approved Registrations with Schedule Conflict
14 Approved Medical Withdrawals
2 Approved Waivers of “Last 8 Units Rule”
2 Approved Second Repeats
2 Approved Completion of Foreign Language Requirement by Alternative Courses
8 Approved Withdrawals with a W Grade
67 Total Petitions
Registrar Approved:
0
Preview Team Approved: 16
Sub-Committee Approved: 40
Total Approved: 56
Sub-Committee Denied:
Total Petitions:
11
67
The petition to remain registered was from a student who was travelling during the
semester break, was not monitoring email or grades, and did not receive notification of
suspension until after the deadline for appealing.
The Sub-Committee denied a medical withdrawal petition because, among other factors, the
Committee did not see evidence of the student having achieved and maintained stability
over an extended period of time.
The student who asked for the sanction to be rescinded acknowledged the need to spend
time away and asked to be allowed to voluntarily take leave and then return under the
provisions of the medical withdrawal policy rather than under the terms of an academic
sanction. While the student has health issues to address, the academic sanction was
earned so the Committee denied the petition.
For the year to date, 133 petitions have been acted upon with 118 approved and 15
denied. For comparison, as of January 30, 2013, 151 petitions had been acted upon with
133 approved and 18 denied. The 53 schedule conflict petitions in 2013, as compared to 16
in 2013, were a contributing factor to the larger number of petitions at this time last
year. Despite the large number of Medical Withdrawals at the end of the Fall 2013
semester, at this point we have 19 in 2014 as compared to 24 in 2013.
The Petitions Sub-Committee also placed 115 academic sanctions on undergraduate
students based on Fall 2013 grades:
38 Warning
10 Suspension
3 Suspension/Probation
42 Probation
8 Continued Probation
9 Semester Dismissal (6 new students/3 continuing students)
5 Year Dismissal
The Academic Standards Committee also placed a graduate student on Probation.
The Petitions Sub-Committee for the Spring 2014 semester is scheduled to meet at 1:00 on
Wednesday afternoons, beginning yesterday, and consists of the following members:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Drew Anderson
Bob Boyles
Debbie Chee
Ken Clark
James Jasinski
Kristin Johnson
Sunil Kukreja
Danny Laesch
Martins Linauts
Gary McCall
Jill Nealey-Moore
Don Share
Brad Tomhave
3. Consideration of Meeting Times and Dates for Spring, 2014
At this time, meetings of the policy subcommittee of the Academic Standards Committee
will be held on February 20, March 6, March 27, April 10, April 24 and May 5 at 4 PM.
Because one member scheduled to be on the policy subcommittee cannot attend the
meeting at 4 PM on Thursday there was some discussion of changing the meeting time. It
was determined that the current time remained the most feasible alternative.
4. Withdrawal Policy
In response to the request of John Hanson to extend the time when faculty can assign a
grade of W to a student withdrawing from class (see minutes of November 15 and
December 6, 2013), Karl Fields, Sunil Kukreja, Martins Linauts and Brad Tomhave
worked on a draft of the Withdrawal Policy that changed the time at which students
would receive a WF from the eighth week of the semester to the tenth week of the
semester.
Discussion began with line 2 of the first paragraph. Members of the committee wanted to
know whether the students had two weeks or 10 class days for withdrawal without
record, noting that those terms could produce different dates for semesters starting on
Tuesday. Ten class days is the accurate statement of the policy. For that reason, it was
suggested that the parenthetical (10 class days) be moved so that the policy would read
“Withdrawal without record on the academic transcript is permissible throughout the first
two weeks (10 class days) of the fall and spring semesters”.
Wade inquired whether the draft policy has addressed privacy concerns; that is, concern
that a student would have to reveal sensitive information to a faculty member to request a
W during the Withdrawal Failing period. Chee responded that this is covered by giving
the student an advocate in the petition process (point 3 in the second paragraph) so that
the student doesn’t have to inform the faculty member of the circumstances of the
withdrawal.
Discussion then focused on two aspects of the advocate process. First, as written, a
faculty member is not included as a possible advocate. This can be changed by adding
faculty member to the string of people eligible to serve as an advocate supplying
supporting documentation. Second, does this policy provide some way for a faculty
member to give input to the petitions committee if the faculty member objects to
assigning a W to the student? As written, there is no notification of the faculty member
that a student is seeking a W grade during the Withdrawal Failing period. The policy
says that “the Registrar’s Office may solicit comments or recommendations from the
instructor”. Some members of the committee noted that changing the “may” to “will”
would ensure notification of the faculty member. Other members of the committee noted
that, in practice, faculty members are always given the chance to contribute information
to the petitions committee. For that reason, it was determined that the wording should be
left as “may” for greater flexibility of future committees.
Chee noted that the addition of a requirement for students withdrawing from all courses
be required to petition for readmission is an improvement of the process.
Tomhave suggested that the wording of the third paragraph be changed so that it reads,
“Once the Reading Period begins, a student is no longer eligible to withdraw.” The
subcommittee approved the draft as revised (see Appendix A).
5. Concurrent Degrees
Fields noted that both the Academic Standards Committee and the Curriculum
Committee have approved the policy and that it should be moved on to the Faculty
Senate.
6. Academic Integrity
Members of the Committee then turned to the remaining charges from the Senate. They
decided to take up the issue of response to first violations of the Academic Integrity code.
The issue here is that some students and their parents complained that they did not fully
understand the gravity of the charge and what would happen with subsequent offenses.
For this reason, it has been suggested that the Registrar’s Office draft a letter that would
be sent to students after a first offense explaining the consequences of the offense and
what would happen if the student was guilty of another offense. That is, the student
would be reminded of what is in the Academic Handbook.
Fields wanted to know why no such letter is currently sent to offenders. Tomhave replied
that the first offense is between the faculty member and the student. Kukreja noted that
while the penalty may be between faculty member and student, the fact that the matter
had been reported to the Registrar’s Office meant the student’s offense gave him/her a
record with the University. Tomhave noted that the first offense was a confidential report
and that sending a letter to the student would create more of a paper trail. Would that
paper trail be further extended by sending a copy of the letter to the faculty member?
Members of the committee noted that while parents can’t be notified, sending a letter to
the student would communicate the gravity of the situation to the student and that this
step would be an improvement over the current system in which faculty members may or
may not fully explain the consequences to students. Tomhave was charged with drafting
such a letter that the committee could consider.
The discussion then turned to the issue of record keeping. Should the records of
violations of the Academic Integrity code be destroyed after graduation? Students are
told that letters and records will be destroyed when they graduate from the University.
Tomhave noted that while the letters in student files are shredded, there is a “record of
the record”. Fields asked why a record would be kept. Do we have an obligation to
report violations to another institution if a student is applying for admission? Anderson
and Chee both said that we should do what we say. If we tell students that documents
will be destroyed, they should be destroyed. Tomhave noted that there are reasons for
keeping the record of records, keeping track of how many violations there are in any
given year, for instance. Members of the committee also wondered whether there were
any wider legal implications of keeping or destroying the records. Should the University
counsel be consulted about this issue? Kukreja will follow up on that issue.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:56 PM. In the next meeting we will begin considering
University policy regarding accepting transfer credits.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Rose Lamb
Appendix A
Withdrawal Grades
Withdrawal without record on the academic transcript is permissible through the
first two weeks of the fall and spring semesters (10 class days) when a student
withdraws or is withdrawn by an instructor. Following this period, a Withdrawal
grade of W may be assigned through the tenth week of classes when a student
completes withdrawal procedures through the Registrar’s Office. If, following the
first two weeks, a student is withdrawn without completing withdrawal procedures,
or if a student withdraws after the time allowed for a W grade, a Withdrawal Failing
(WF) is automatically assigned.
During the Withdrawal Failing period (class weeks 11-15), a student may petition
the Academic Standards Committee requesting withdrawal with a W grade. To
support such a petition, the student must 1) have completed withdrawal
procedures, 2) outline in a statement to the Committee the exceptional
circumstances prompting withdrawal, and 3) provide supporting documentation of
exceptional circumstances from a health care provider, counselor, Puget Sound
advisor or other university advocate. Additionally, the student may submit a
statement from the course instructor regarding the student’s progress in the class
and, in the absence of such a statement, the Registrar’s Office may solicit
comments or recommendations from the instructor.
The last day of class, as listed in the academic calendar, is the last day a student
may withdraw from a class. Once Reading Period begins, a student is no longer able
to withdraw.
Withdrawal from a course past the date for withdrawal without record counts as a
“course attempt.” This means if a student registers again for a course that had
been assigned a W or WF grade, the student is repeating that course under the
terms of the policy titled “Reregistration for the Same Course.”
During the summer session, the withdrawal process described for the fall and spring
semesters applies during the following weeks: first week, drop without record;
second, third, and fourth weeks, automatic W grade; fifth week and later, WF is the
default grade and the Academic Standards Committee may assign a W grade in
response to a student’s petition.
A student who remains registered in a class but has a poor record of attendance
may be subject to the registration and withdrawal policies that allow an instructor
or the Registrar to drop that student. (See the sections titled "Registration and
Attendance/Participation," "Non-Attendance," and "Withdrawal from a Course/From
the University.")
Students who receive withdrawal grades for all courses in a given semester must
petition the Committee for re-enrollment in the University.