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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Frequently Asked Questions About Withdrawals


We are all aware of the universal rule that states, “Once a rule has been put in place, we must all scramble around trying to find loopholes and variations because we are special and the rule as originally stated cannot possibly apply to us.”  I too am guilty of this and have been trying for many years to find a loophole in the rule of nature that states that you have to expend more calories than you take in to lose weight. I’m currently on loophole 623. That’s the one where you can wash down a piece of chocolate cake (as large as you want!) with a diet coke and the calories in the cake will be canceled out by the lack of calories in the diet coke. I’ve been toiling with this loophole for more than ten years. Once I finish thoroughly exploring it, I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Below are some of the questions that come up at the end of every semester. I’ll print these daily for as long as I have questions coming in. Please email me with things you would like explained. Also, let me know if you have found any good dieting loopholes! I need to lose 50 pounds by Mother’s Day.

Q: I told my students at the beginning of the semester that I don’t do faculty withdrawals. They are responsible for withdrawing themselves. Now the deadline has passed and a student hands me a withdrawal extension form to sign. I feel I made myself clear and don’t feel comfortable agreeing to this late withdrawal. I feel like I’m being manipulated.

A: You are under no obligation to sign the withdrawal extension form. If you do not agree with it, tell the student that you cannot sign it. The Registrar’s Office will not accept it without your signature. The student can’t ‘sneak in’ a late withdrawal. You will be aware of every late withdrawal that takes place. You, not the student, are in control of this process.

Q1: Earlier in the semester I discussed withdrawal with a student and we agreed that I would withdraw him. I forgot. Now the withdrawal deadline has passed. I don’t feel right giving him an “F” when I told him I would withdraw him. What should I do?

Q2: I have a student who wanted to withdraw and I talked her into staying in the class. I feel I may have pushed her into staying when she was correct in wanting to withdraw. She is failing the class and the withdrawal deadline has passed. What should I do?

A: We will always accept a late faculty withdrawal when ‘the college’, i.e. you, me, the computer, is at fault. You may still go into your class list and withdraw the student. This will appear as an error on our audit reports and we will need to justify it if it comes up in the formal audit.

Q: A student slid a withdrawal form under my door for me to sign. I signed it but she never came back to pick it up and she hasn’t been to class. I probably should have sent it to your office but I kept thinking she would pick it up. Now it is time to grade the student. What should I give her?

A: You are right, the student SHOULD have come back and picked up the withdrawal and turned it in to R&R. This lack of responsibility is probably why she needs to withdraw in the first place. (I’m getting my mother-needs-to-lecture gene all worked up!)

This isn’t a clear cut issue so you can go either way on this and we will support you. If you want to turn it in late, we will accept it. If you want to give the student an “F” we will support the fact that it’s a student initiated withdrawal and therefore she was supposed to turn it in to R&R. The fault is hers, not yours.

Q: I withdrew a student for poor attendance last month. Then he came to me and asked to be reinstated. I agreed to reinstate him. Now, after the withdrawal deadline, he is asking that I withdraw him again as he is not doing well in the class. What should I do?

A: Since he was savvy enough to get reinstated this does not sound like a student who has no idea how the withdrawal policy operates. He could have withdrawn himself before the deadline. He should not be expecting you to withdraw him a second time after the deadline has passed. I would say no.

Deborah Benjamin
Registration and Records
04/17/2007