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Anoopa Sundararaj an
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Most students are aware of the
current course retake policy, which allows a
total of three course repeats throughout an
undergraduate degree Recognizing that this
can be challenging given that our students
come in from different backgrounds and
may not have the same foundation coming
into college, the Office of Undergraduate
Academic Affairs (UGAA) recently proposed
a change to the policy Gregory Welter,
Director of Undergraduate Academic Affairs,
told TechNews more about the change and the
reason behind it

Possibly struggling with finding
the right balance between school and
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Student newspaper of Illinois Institute of Technology since 1928

Undergraduate Academic Affairs updates course retake policy

semesters of college, some students use up
to two of their course retakes within the first
year in the effort to maintain a high GPA,
leaving only one retake for the remainder
of their undergraduate careert Factoring in
the difliculties students face with the jump
from high school to college and taking into
consideration that “sometimes students and
professors just clash," UGAA took a proposal
to the Undergraduate Studies Committee
(UGSC) to change the policy from a total of
three course repeats to three course repeats at
the 100 and 20071evel, and three course repeats
at the 300 and 40071evel, for a total possibility
of six retakest With the support of faculty and
staff on the UGSC, the change was approved
This change in policy assists faculty and staff
in their mission to help students succeed at

Illinois Tech and was the impetus that led to
the proposal An important detail to note about
this change, Welter adds, is that course retakes
that are not utilized at the 100 and 20071evel do
not carry over to higher level courses

The staff at UGAA researched and
discussed this change in great detail before
taking it to the UGSC for implementation The
change is modeled after several liberal policies
at other universities, most notably, Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute (RPI)t Welter says, “It
is the philosophy of [the UGAA] office that
students come [to Illinois Tech] to study, not
to memorize rules and regulations," adding
that students should not worry about knowing
the rules well and, “If they’re concerned, they
should come to [the UGAA] ofiice?’

TUESD .
APRIL 12,
2016

Volume 184 | Issue 10

technewsiit.com

OPINION 2
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Asked if he worries at all about the possible
negative ramifications of this change where
students become more complacent about their
education in the first year or two because they
have more opportunities to retake courses,
Welter said that although that concern has
been brought up by some faculty, he is not
too worried about it He adds that the vast
majority of students who come here are serious
students who are unlikely to use this change
as “a parachute bailout” He ended by saying,
“After my experience with students here, I’m
not concerned about that The vast majority
of students here are serious and committed to
what they want to do?’

Students elect new SGA executive board, vote on UMII referendum

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Constitution

Images courtesy nfSGA