An Academic Senate committee is asking for campus input on
revisions to UCSD’s current course-withdrawal policy, which members hope to
change so that students are allowed to withdraw from a class only once.

The Committee on Educational Policy — the body heading the
revision — began discussing the current course-withdrawal policy more than
three months ago. Members analyzed different policies from other UC campuses,
such as a stricter one at UC Irvine, which requires a formal petition when
requesting a withdrawal from a class after the add/drop period has passed.

Currently, UCSD does not require any petition to withdraw
from a course, and a student can use TritonLink to drop a class repeatedly for
an indefinite number of academic quarters. The unguarded accessibility of this
option has consistently frustrated professors, said physics professor and CEP
Chair Kim Griest.

“There are a small group of students who will repeatedly
retake a class, which is to the disadvantage of other students,” Griest said.
“They leave a lot of empty seats in classes which would have been filled by
students who are willing to see the course through.”

The revised policy would allow a student to withdraw from a
course only once. The next attempt at the class would have to be taken
full-term for a letter grade.

Although the revision could take effect as early as Spring
Quarter 2008, the CEP agreed that the policy should not be retroactive, and
previous withdrawal marks taken in a course should not count against a student
until the revision is enacted.

“Students can take any number of courses and receive as many
“W’s” in them as they want, as long as they do so before the policy revision
takes place,” said A.S. Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Long Pham,
the senate’s student representative.

Before any revision takes place, the CEP will send a brief
overview of the proposed change via e-mail to UCSD students, staff and faculty,
allowing two to four weeks for comments.

“When the policy takes effect will depend on how long the
comment process takes,” Griest said.

The policy revision will first be brought up to the Academic
Senate, which will decide whether to implement the change. The proposed change
would then be presented for campus review.

Readers can contact Justin Gutierrez at [email protected].