Students have no place on Academic Standing Comm.

Procedural changes are announced to CF

The Academic Standing Committee will no longer include students.

This change is one of several procedural changes made for the committee. The other changes relate to how the committee warns students of slower than normal progress toward graduation requirements.

Professor of Physics Joseph Palmieri, chair of the committee, announced the changes at Tuesday's College Faculty meeting. He said he was concerned about students with access to private information about other students.

"It seems to us that it's not appropriate for students to have that kind of access to information about students who might live down the hall or whatever," Palmieri said.

Palmieri said that without students on the committee, the decisions are unlikely to change and that one of the two student members attends about half of its meetings.

Palmieri said students were not on the committee, which meets each January and June, until 1973, when the committee's scope broadened. In 1987, the committee began to oversee only academic standing again, but students remained on the body.

According to Palmieri, about six percent of all graduating students currently spend more than eight semesters at Oberlin.

Palmieri said that the extra time spent earning a degree often proves to be a financial burden either on the student or on the College, and in many cases students are unaware that they are making slow progress until it is too late for them to catch up.

The committee has decided to send informational letters sometime in the second semester of the sophomore year to students passing less than 14 hours a semester.

According to Palmieri, some students are under the misunderstanding that only 12 hours a semester need to be passed to make satisfactory progress toward a degree.

In fact, 12 hours is the minimum number of hours a full-time student can pass without being put on academic probation. The minimum number of hours needed to fulfill graduation requirements in eight semesters is 14.

Palmieri said that the purpose of the letter is simply to warn students of possible problems in the future, and is not a letter of punishment, threat or probation. He said that the letter should clear up any misunderstanding that students may have about the number of credits needed per semester to graduate on time.

While copies of the letter will remain in a student's file in the office of the Dean of Academic Affairs, it cannot be circulated outside of the College.

Another slight change in academic procedure is slated to go into effect in Fall 1997. It concerns the "minimum level of acceptable accomplishment" in any given semester. Currently, during the first and second semesters of enrollment, students must earn 10 hours; during all other semesters, 12 hours.

The committee has decided to change this requirement to 10 hours for the first semester only, and 12 hours thereafter. This decision reflects the committee's faith in the ability of Oberlin College students, Palmieri said.