EDITORIAL: Policy fails students
Our instructors make their life’s work teaching the students to think critically and bring about an essence of individuality. IVCC’s policies with faculty and staff were doing a great job of showing us that we are all are accepted and are encouraged to stand out in a crowd and speak our minds; be different.
That’s when they started looking around at what other colleges are doing and decided that we should assimilate to the "norm" of community college withdrawal policies.
On November 9 the adaptation to what those other colleges are doing was complete. We shortened the withdrawal policy by four weeks, and we all witnessed this example that took away a little bit of what makes our college (and who we are) unique. It chiseled away a piece of what makes our school so special; it isn’t the same as all of those others—it’s ours.
This institution has had a reputation of bending over backwards for the good of the common student. It wasn’t like they were holding our hands through class; it was a sort of unspoken respect for those of us who were making their education a priority, or those that have the courage to start college 20 years after high school graduation.
IVCC prides itself on being able to educate a mass number of students in diverse situations; we mustn’t start taking away options from our students and teachers now.
The stresses of the average student’s life are higher than ever, and we appreciate the fact that IVCC offers a formal education in a more liberal setting.
Our instructors wear blue jeans and tennis shoes, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.