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Proposed revisions to drop/add policy concern SA
By KEVIN FRYLING
Reporter Staff Writer
Representatives from the undergraduate Student Association (SA) voiced concern during yesterday's meeting of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee about a proposal to revise UB's drop/add policy.
Peter Grollitsch, SA president, said the greatest objection among students to shortening the length of time in which a student can enroll or cancel enrollment in a course—from two weeks to seven days for enrollments and six days for cancellations—is that a significant number feel a curtailed drop/add period will not provide enough time to learn about a course's instructor and grading criteria before being locked into it for the semester.
Also appearing before senators were Robert Pape, student representative to the UB Council and communications director for SA, and John Martin, SA treasurer.
"When I heard about this a couple weeks ago, I was somewhat surprised and a lot of students [were] shocked and somewhat upset," said Grollitsch. "People began to see the other side of it, but I still feel that, ultimately, students are concerned about it. They're concerned about losing it from two weeks to one week because everyone likes the flexibility of that extra time."
Students are most upset about courses that are only scheduled once a week, he added, noting that most faculty teach very little until the second class meeting. He also pointed out that it's not unusual for students in lab classes to not meet their teaching assistant, with whom much of their interaction takes place, until after the first class.
Paul Horvath, associate professor of nutrition, School of Public Health and Health Professions, suggested that changes to the drop/add policy might necessitate a "culture shift" at the university by encouraging faculty members to provide a full class of instruction the first time their course meets—as well as urging them to post syllabi online far enough in advance of the start of the semester that students can consider information about an instructor's requirements and teaching style before registration.
But Pape replied that trying to change the way faculty members treat the first class of the semester—as well as attitudes toward posting syllabi online—should take place before, not after, revisions to the drop/add policy.
"We can't say we're going to make it one week and then work toward making it OK," he said. "I think we need to do something pre-emptive before we have more discussions about [revising drop/adds]."
William H. Baumer, professor of philosophy, College of Arts and Sciences, and chair of the Faculty Senate Grading Committee, which has proposed the revisions to the drop/add policy, said the revisions are about helping, not hindering, students by preventing "course shoppers" from hanging onto courses they're not interested in until the 11th hour and then dropping—a practice that can prevent others who need the same course to graduate from enrolling until they're significantly behind in the course. Too many students canceling their enrollment in the second week also wreaks havoc with course scheduling, he said, explaining that many departments hire additional 100- and 200-level instructors to accommodate demand that evaporates soon after the semester begins.
"I have heard from a number of undergraduate officers across the College of Arts and Sciences who have major concerns about the introductory courses," he added. "There is a tremendous amount of just plain course shopping going on; it is disruptive to the classes, it is not helpful to the students and it disrupts some of our plans in terms of trying to block registered freshmen."
The revisions aim to "constrain," not eliminate, drop/adds, he said, noting that students who want to enroll or cancel their enrollment in a course after the first week still would be able to do so by requesting permission from their department.
Grollitsch responded that he felt that more students would support constrained drop/adds if the changes took place in conjunction with a greater commitment to posting online course requirements in advance, including details about class participation, readings, papers, projects, quizzes and tests.
"You're asking a little bit more of the students and I would thus ask a little bit more of the faculty," he said. "The students will have to pay more attention—they will have to be on their toes to make sure they register and are responsible—so then I would ask that the faculty put their syllabi online so we could see them and know where to go from there."
The proposed revisions to the drop/add policy will come up for a vote Tuesday during the final meeting of the full Faculty Senate for the academic year.