By Joleen Zulkowsky
Beginning in the fall of 1999, students will have to withdraw from classes by the 12th week of the semester.
For this semester and spring 1999, the current policy, which allows withdrawals through the 16th week of the semester, will remain in force.
In addition to shortening the withdrawal
period, the new policy eliminates the grade of
"withdraw fail." Starting next fall, all withdrawals
will be withdraw pass.
Under the current policy, withdrawals through the 12th week have been automatic withdraw pass, but from the 12th week through the 16th, instructors had to assign a withdraw pass or withdraw fail based on the student’s standing in the class at that time.
Dr. Robert Marshall, vice president of student services, described the withdraw fail as "a punitive grade to a student’s grade point average; it is the same as an F, basically."
The new policy not only eliminates that punitive grade, it also should eliminate confusion that the various withdrawal grades created, Marshall said.
"The change to one grade of W with a non-punitive effect is a big improvement," Marshall said. "It will be easier for students to understand and for staff and faculty to work with."
Dr. Harriet Custer, vice president of academic affairs, agreed that avoiding the grade confusion was one purpose for the change. The second reason she mentioned was that, "Faculty had concerns about the deadline being late."
In March 1996, for a story the Apache published about IVCC’s withdrawal policy, 62 percent of the full-time faculty said withdrawing through the 16th week was too lenient; 80 percent of the students, however, called the policy fair.
IVCC’s new policy is comparable to other colleges, Marshall said, with the 10th to the 12th week being the average.
"Some are more restrictive; many are more liberal," Marshall said. "IVCC will be middle-of-the road."
The March 14, 1996, Apache story reported that 70 percent of the Illinois community colleges and all of the Illinois public universities required students to withdraw earlier than IVCC did
Saying that there had been a lot of discussion over recent years about revising the withdrawal policy, Marshall explained that "no one really began to look into it until the Educational Excellence Council formed a subcommittee to do so."
The Educational Excellence Council, a steering committee which emerged from negotiations between the teacher’s union and the college board in 1997, is made up of representatives from the administration and the union, the American Federation of Teachers.
The faculty and staff on the subcommittee examined other college policies and made their recommendation based upon that research, Marshall said.
How many students will be affected by the policy change? Marshall said he wasn’t sure.
"In the past a lot of late withdrawals have been made, and this (new policy) will force students to make earlier decisions."
Custer applauded the change and endorsed the need for earlier decision making and for teachers to keep students informed about where they stand.
11/19/98 the Apache