I’ve often marveled at human nature and our ability to rise up and tirelessly fight to correct some perceived wrong which we would never have had to fight for at all if we had put that much effort into doing it right in the first place, thus preventing the wrong altogether. The amount of time students spend trying to get around the withdrawal deadline, if spent attending class, would have made it a moot point. Humans are irrational and seem to have more energy for hiding mistakes than for not making them in the first place. There must be a name for this other than "being human."
Q: If you aren’t offering withdrawal extensions any longer how will you deal with the students who missed the withdrawal deadline who are rioting at your office window on Monday morning?
A: You have an acute sense of how our office operates. This is going to be a problem. I’ll tell you our plan and then you can laugh at it.
We will listen to their reason for missing the deadline and how an "F" will affect their immediate and future lives. We will explain the policy, all the places it was posted and provide empathy and understanding. That’s it. Really…that is our plan. Of course, this means that the same student who comes in when our window opens at 8:00 will still be there arguing with us at 4:45.
Q: That doesn’t seem like a very effective plan.
A: I agree. I would expect that in the spring semester everyone in our office will ask for vacation time the week after the withdrawal deadline. I already have.
Q: So you aren’t planning to send them all to talk to their professor?
A: Well, since we will only be handling that one student, probably not. Realistically, enforcing college policy is everyone’s job and we should be working as a team. Our plan is not to send the student to their professor. If, after leaving our office, they choose to go to you we can’t prevent that but we won’t offer it as an alternative. The one exception would be if the student told us you had said you were withdrawing him and there is no withdrawal on record. That would be an issue the two of you would need to resolve.
Q: How many students traditionally miss the deadline and come to your office?
A: On average we have given out around 200 withdrawal extension forms per semester. Of those 200, only about 50 were ever actually turned in. So, each semester we have about 50 students who are adamant about receiving a “W” after the deadline and are willing to fill out paperwork and get their instructor’s signature to accomplish it. Of those 50 only one is usually a repeat offender and thus denied the withdrawal extension. Some semesters we have no repeat offenders at all.
Q: So you will have 200 students arguing at your window…
A: Right. And 50 of them will never go away. Ever. If I knew who the 50 students were I would withdraw them myself prior to the Saturday deadline.
Deborah Benjamin
Registration and Records
11/20/2008 |