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MCC Daily Tribune

Faculty Initiated Withdrawals

In fall 2017, the Faculty Initiated Withdrawal (FIW) practice was suspended after Institutional Research reported data that showed the practice was disproportionally detrimental to certain student populations. Work on this topic continued since then and the implementation committee comprised of representatives from academic and student services, faculty, and students recently recommended new withdrawal practices aimed at helping our students. Specifically, the committee recommended to the Provost that MCC establish an automated course withdrawal policy that requires faculty to take daily class attendance and report it in Starfish by Monday of the following week. A student who has missed a number of classes equal to 30 percent of the seat time for that class will be automatically withdrawn. Students will receive automated warnings when their absences reach 10 percent and 20 percent of missed seat time, and again when the absences approach 30 percent before the withdrawal occurs. Students will have the right to appeal this withdrawal and request re-enrollment in the class. Students will have the right to continue attending class during the appeal process. Under this system, the withdrawal process is consistent from course to course and instructor to instructor so that students will be withdrawn in a uniform and equitable manner. Requiring faculty to take weekly attendance will be a significant change for the college. We will begin meeting with the appropriate offices to determine steps needed to ensure a system is in place by fall 2019.

Andrea Wade
Academic Services
03/28/2019