Minutes of the Academic Policies Committee
for March 28, 2003

The meeting was called to order at 11:05 a.m.

Present: Lisa White, Mary Power, Norman Cloutier, Paul Mohazzabi, Richard Lott, Susan Haller, Jerry Greenfield, Laura Gellott. Guests: Lisa Johnson, Peggy James. Absent: Bryan Lewis, Fue Xiong. Excused: Doug DeVinny.

Old Business

Late Withdrawal Policy. Peggy James explained concerns that University Committee had with the draft policy APC submitted to them on February 28, 2003. After discussion, the draft was revised to read as follows:

“A student may withdraw from the university during the first half of the semester. The Registrar’s Office will determine comparable deadlines for courses less than a semester in length. After withdrawal, no record will be kept of a student’s grade in his/her courses for that semester.

“After the deadline but before the last day of instruction in that semester a student may request permission to withdraw only for extraordinary non-academic reasons. Any such request must be submitted to the Advising Center. The Director of Advising will periodically review requests in consultation with the Academic Actions Committee. The request must include a written explanation of the circumstances leading to the request. Students may not request a withdrawal from a completed semester.”

This draft will be forwarded to the University Committee for inclusion on the agenda of the April meeting of the Senate.

Late Drop Policy

APC had begun discussing this at its last meeting; it turns out that University Committee had also been discussing it. With input from Peggy James, APC drafted the following wording for the Late Drop policy:

“A student may drop any course during the first half of the semester. The Registrar’s Office will determine comparable deadlines for courses less than a semester in length. After the deadline, a student may request permission to drop a course only for documented extraordinary non-academic reasons.

“The student should initiate this process in the Advising Center. Any such request must be completed by the last day of instruction in that semester. The request must include a written explanation of the circumstances leading to the request, and the appropriate signatures (instructor, department chair, dean). A student should not assume that his/her request will be granted.”

This draft will be forwarded to the University Committee for inclusion on the agenda of the April meeting of the Senate.

Academic Forgiveness

Richard Lott and Lisa Johnson brought back final revisions on the policy. The committee agreed to forward the policy to University Committee. [Lott and Johnson will send the chair of APC the final copy of the draft, and it will be forwarded to all members of the committee.]

This draft will be forwarded to the University Committee for inclusion on the agenda of the April meeting of the Senate.

New Business

Jerry Greenfield advised the members of APC that the Gen Ed Committee on Monday will be taking up recommendations to either suspend or eliminate the current University Seminar course, and may make recommendations regarding development of a new model of extended orientation.

The chair thanked committee members for their service during this past year.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:30 p.m.

Submitted by:
Laura Gellott