SKIDMORE COLLEGE

COMMITTEE ON ACADEMIC STANDING

OPERATING GUIDELINES
Revised Spring 2004

Purpose of the Committee: "To formulate and administer policy relating to the academic status of students including matters concerning probation, honors, requirements for graduation, acceleration, and leave of absence; to determine the academic status of each student on the basis of the record, reports of instructors, the opinion of the faculty in the major and any other relevant data; and to give any instructions and advice which seem necessary or advisable" (Faculty Handbook, 1988-89).

(Comment: the primary functions of the CAS are to interpret and apply--"administer"--established academic policies. On various occasions, however, the Committee also "formulates" academic policies, either for its own internal operations or to propose to the Faculty as a voting issue. In the past, for example, the CAS has made proposals regarding honors and probation criteria, plus/minus grading, the handling of "incomplete" grades, minimal standards for continuation, and deadlines for adding, dropping, and withdrawing from courses.)

Membership: three faculty members, the associate dean of students or the associate/assistant director of the Dean of Studies Office, the Registrar, and two students selected by the SGA.

(Comment: in practice, the CAS has approved somewhat broader representation from the Office of the Registrar and the Office of the Dean of Studies, for staff from these areas often have critical pieces of information to contribute and also have to explain the CAS decisions to the students affected by them. This expanded participation in CAS meetings can occur only with the consent of the regular CAS membership. In any case, the balance of voting rights on the CAS remains exactly as described in The Faculty Handbook.)

General Philosophy: The CAS has been given rather broad authority by the Faculty to act for them in the interpretation of policies and deadlines which affect the academic life of students. The CAS attempts to uphold such policies as they were intended by the Faculty, but at the same time attends to unusual circumstances presented by a particular case. When the CAS departs from a particular policy, it tries to recall and anticipate all similar cases and thus attempts, for the sake of fairness, to preserve philosophical continuity in its interpretation of special exceptions. The guiding principle in CAS decisions is to insure the integrity and quality of student academic experience, while at the same time taking various student hardships and confusions into account.

Operating Procedures: Requests from students (and in the case of grade changes, from faculty) are submitted to the Committee through the Office of the Registrar, the Dean of Studies Office, or the Chair of the Committee. The Committee generally asks the two administrative offices to act upon very routine requests which clearly fall within CAS guidelines and to report the results to the Committee (e.g., routine medical or personal leaves, academic leaves from well qualified students, reclassifications, ordinary drop/adds and W requests). Petitions which require interpretation are, however, brought before the Committee at meetings held weekly during the academic year. Requests are discussed and judgments are made in accordance with the policies, procedures, and standards set forth in the College Catalog and the Faculty Advisor Handbook. The large majority of decisions are reached through discussion and consensus, though some issues may require a vote (for a total of 7 voting memberships as defined by the Faculty Handbook). When additional information is needed before making a decision, the Committee contacts the appropriate student, faculty member, academic department, or, occasionally, other college or institution. Decisions made by the CAS are incorporated into minutes prepared for each meeting by the Office of the Registrar and the Office of the Dean of Studies. Minutes are distributed to the members of the Committee and to other appropriate administrative and academic offices.

Students are notified of decisions in writing either by the Office of the Dean of Studies or the Office of the Registrar, or occasionally by the Chair of the CAS. Copies of the decision letters are maintained by both administrative offices and are sent only to those individuals at the College who must take action on the decision (such as faculty advisors, financial services, student aid, residential life).

Students (or faculty) who have concerns or who need clarification on Committee decisions may direct their questions to the offices of the Registrar and Dean of Studies or to the Chair. If the petitioner has a substantially new perspective or piece of evidence to offer for the Committee's further consideration, he or she may submit an appeal in writing to the Committee.

The Committee on Academic Standing makes every effort to maintain confidentiality in all of its petition, notification, and appeal processes.

GUIDELINES FOR CAS DECISIONS

Change in Course Registration:

1) Late Drop or Add: students may add or drop a course with their instructors' approval during the first week of classes. During the second week of classes, adding a course may be approved by the CAS if there is clear evidence, from the instructor, that the student has been a full participant in the course since its beginning or within the established period for adding a course (thus the integrity of the course experience would be preserved). The adding of a course is seldom approved after the second week. Dropping a course during the second week of classes may be approved if the student has a valid reason for submitting the drop request late. A drop after this point may be allowed only if there is strong evidence of understandable student confusion over the drop/add process, or some other serious delay beyond the student's control. Usually, however, the CAS allows a W instead of a drop.
(Comment: the possibility that the student may incur an overload fee has no bearing on the CAS drop/add/W decision and is entirely under the authority of Financial Services. Further, students who are lax about dropping or withdrawing from a course may have prevented another student from enrolling in the course.)

2) Withdrawal and Late Withdrawal (W) from a Course: In May 1999, the CAS proposed, and the faculty approved by vote, a policy of 2 withdrawals only per student during the period of enrollment at the College. The policy's effective start date was Fall 1999 for entering new and transfer students. The CAS may entertain a late withdrawal from a course or courses, with strong support from the instructor(s), if the student was experiencing severe emotional or medical distress which significantly delayed or confused the student's ability to exercise responsibility. In certain severe cases, of medical emergency or emotional distress, the Office of the Dean of Studies, on behalf of the student and with CAS approval, may initiate late withdrawals from courses (or even a late drop) and so notify the student's instructors (who may decline the recommendation if they wish, since a W can be granted only with permission from the instructor).

3) Course Overloads and Underloads: a course schedule overload (over 18 semester hours, to a maximum of 20 semester hours) or an underload (fewer than 12 semester hours) must be approved by the CAS. Students with a 3.00 GPA or above are automatically approved by the Office of the Registrar for an overload. For students whose GPA is lower than 3.00, the CAS may approve an overload if the student record shows sufficient strength, and assuming the quality of the student's academic experience would be preserved. Generally the CAS is more lenient with overload requests from final-term seniors, unless the overload would likely diminish the quality of the student's culminating academic experience. Overloads are never approved above 20 semester hours and are not available to first-term, first-year students.
Grades and Grading:

1) Late Change in Grading Option: after the two-week deadline for changing from grade to S/U or S/U to a grade, the CAS will not approve a change unless there is documentary evidence of the student's confusion in making his or her choice or evidence of a clerical or procedural error.

2) Change in Grade: a grade change is allowable only under very limited circumstances. Requests for a change of grade must be initiated by the instructor of record and will be granted only for "computational or clerical error. No grade may be changed on the basis of re-examination or supplementary work" (Faculty Handbook). The instructor requesting a change of grade must assure the CAS that she/he has checked the entire classlist for other potential errors. On rare occasions a grade-change request comes to the CAS as the result of a CAFR, Academic Integrity Board, or Board of Review decision. The CAS implements these decisions when the faculty member concurs with or does not oppose the grade-change request (even under these circumstances, the instructor retains full authority over the grade).
(Comment: in order to protect the integrity of the grading process, the Committee has held firmly to the distinctions made in the Faculty Handbook. Routine grade changes for clerical or computational error are approved by the Office of the Registrar and reported to the Committee.)

3) Extension of Grade of Incomplete: a faculty member may request, through the Office of the Registrar, an extension beyond the normal six-week period for completion of Incomplete course work. Many such requests are routine; in other cases the CAS may consider whether the extension is warranted on academic or other grounds. Sometimes the CAS disallows an extension because of a pending "disqualification" or other important question of the student's academic standing.

Leaves of Absence:

1) Medical and Personal Leaves: most requests for medical and personal leaves are routinely handled by the Office of the Dean of Studies and reported to the CAS. Some requests may need special consideration by the Committee: a) when the student's request would be for more than one continuous year (rarely granted); b) when the student is in academic jeopardy; c) when the request is of an emergency nature and also requires late drops or withdrawals from courses. A student may not be on "leave" and also enrolled in a Skidmore course or courses.
(Comment: the only caution is that late "emergency" leaves not be used simply to bail out of a serious academic problem--as a means of avoiding the academic standards which all students are expected to meet.)

2) Academic Leaves: for students with upper-division standing and 3.00 GPA or better, academic leaves are routinely approved by the Office of the Dean of Studies and reported to the CAS. The CAS does review academic leave requests from first-year students and sophomores, however, and from students with a GPA below 3.00. First-year students and sophomores who have not completed the first two years of all-college requirements may be denied a leave until they complete the "Foundation" and "Interdisciplinary Study" components of the curriculum. The CAS almost always approves academic leaves for study abroad for juniors who have a relatively stable and strong (3.00) record. When the student's record is below 3.00, the CAS looks especially for growth in the academic record. Depending on the relative strength or weakness of the student's record, the CAS might require a further semester or year of 3.00 performance before approving study abroad. Each request is judged on its own individual merits--within the bounds of continuity and overall fairness. (See the document, attached, on "CAS Policies on Academic Leaves of Absence for Study Abroad.")

The GPA expectations are much more flexible when the student will be participating in a traditional academic program at another college in the U.S.A. The CAS assumes that other college programs in the U.S.A. will operate by standards similar to Skidmore's and supply similar degrees of guidance and support to the student.

Revised Policy Regarding the Transfer of Course Credits While on Academic, Medical or Personal Leave (approved April 2004)

Guidelines for Study Abroad

Upon the advice of Cori Filson, Director of the Office of International Programs, the CAS revised its previous policy regarding students who do not meet Skidmore's eligibility criteria for study abroad, or whose program choice is not judged appropriate for Skidmore transfer credit. In the older policy, the student denied an academic leave for study abroad could then apply for a personal leave and, upon later petition, request up to two courses in transfer credit for the unauthorized program participation. That policy is now rescinded; instead, the student who participates without OIP/CAS authorization in a program abroad will receive no credits in transfer upon his or her return.(4/04)

Guidelines for US-based Academic Study While on Medical or Personal Leave

The shift in policy for study abroad credits also carries implications for the former policy on students' earning credits at another US college or university while on a personal or medical leave from Skidmore. The CAS will no longer automatically limit such credit to two courses per term for a maximum of eight credits in transfer. CAS will now use its discretion to pre-approve up to and including as many as eleven credits. Any student wishing to study full time (12 credits or more), will be required to complete an academic leave application. (4/04)

Effective dates of approved leaves: the large majority of leaves are "effective" as of the date they were approved by the CAS. In a few cases of personal and medical leaves, we may determine an earlier effective date based on the point at which the student actually left campus. This effective date is recorded in the CAS minutes and communicated to Financial Services so that Financial Services can determine whether the student is eligible for a refund. See Maggie Oldendorf's memo (attached) of April 5, 1992.

Acceleration and Reclassification:

Acceleration requests are reviewed for their completeness and feasibility by the Office of the Registrar and given to the CAS for approval. The CAS routinely approves accelerations for students with relatively strong records, assuming that the acceleration plan preserves the quality of the student's academic experience. If the plan requires semesters of "overload," the overload criteria (see above) come into play. The student is not actually reclassified until he/she completes the requisite number of semester hours for a particular class year.

Reclassification may be requested by a student or, of necessity, decided by the Office of the Registrar (because the student has fallen too far behind his or her original class year). Most reclassifications are routine and are simply reported in the CAS minutes.

Transfer Credits:

The large majority of transfer credit decisions are handled directly by the Office of the Registrar, often in consultation with department chairs. There are a few transfer questions which need review by the CAS:

a) requests for non-Western credit for a transfer course (see attached non-Western guidelines);

b) elective credit which may not meet the criteria ordinarily used by the Office of the Registrar;

c) credit for other all-college requirements which do not fall under the authority of another department or committee (the Liberal Studies Committee handles LS transfer requests; the Foreign Language Department is consulted on FL transfer requests; the English Department is consulted on writing-course credit);

d) maturity-level requests (see below);

e) summer-school credits (see below).

Maturity-Level Credit: in an effort to preserve some minimal core of advanced-level Skidmore course work for each student's Skidmore degree, the CAS grants only a limited amount of transfer credit toward the 24 semester hours of Skidmore maturity credit.
Under a few compelling circumstances (e.g., for the purpose of study abroad), the CAS may, at its discretion, approve as many as eight semester hours of maturity-level credit for study at another institution--a maximum of one course for up to four maturity credits for each semester spent at the other institution.

Summer School Transfer Courses: the CAS has approved and published criteria for the acceptance of summer school transfer credit (see attached memo), and these criteria are routinely administered by the Office of the Registrar. The CAS holds strongly to the view that summer sessions must cover, minimally, a four-week period to be eligible for transfer credit (and, of course, meet N.Y. State Education Department standards for contact hours). The only exception sometimes granted by the CAS is for intensive study of a foreign language during a summer session of at least three weeks duration.

Transfer credits for Other Off-Campus Study: on occasion the CAS may be asked by the Office of the Dean of Studies, the Office of the Registrar, or the Director of the Office of International Programs to review the possibility of giving transfer credit to programs with which we are unfamiliar or which are not themselves sponsored academically by an accredited college or university (or are accredited by an agency which we don't usually recognize). In such cases, it has been CAS practice to review course descriptions and syllabi, faculty credentials, and the general academic tenor and educational purposes of the sponsoring organization. The CAS is particularly concerned with the academic credibility of the proposed experience and its potential connection to liberal arts and science education.
Note: these CAS decisions are distinct from proposed academic "affiliations," which are reviewd by CEPP.

Course Substitutions for All-College Requirements:

Under no circumstances does the CAS waive a course requirement for the Skidmore degree. (Note that chairs of departments, in consultation with the Office of the Registrar, do have authority to make various course substitutions for established major or minor requirements.) There are a few circumstances, however, in which the CAS will consider substituting Skidmore courses for those specifically designated in the Catalog as meeting a particular degree requirement. For example, the CAS occasionally receives requests to substitute upper-level lab science courses for the courses designated in the Catalog. If the appropriate department supports the substitution, the CAS usually concurs.

The only other substitution requests, thus far, are based on documented evidence of a learning disability. Through a carefully established process, students with a severe learning disability may file a petition with the Office of the Dean of Studies, requesting course substitutions for a particular all-college requirement. The Dean of Studies Office then seeks a recommendation from the academic department most closely linked with the requirement (e.g. the Foreign Language Department for a substitution in the FL requirement, or the English Department for a substitution in the Writing requirement).

The only petitions we have processed (through Fall 2002) bear upon the Foreign Language Requirement. (See CAS Guidelines for Foreign Language Substitution Requests and Appeals, December 17,1999.) Department recommendations for approval or denial of the petition are forwarded to the CAS. CAS makes the final determination for approval or denial of the petition. In the case of foreign language petitions, the Foreign Language Department also recommends to the CAS either the specific foreign language course the student should take to fulfill the requirement or a specific course substitution. Again, CAS is responsible for the final decision.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT SUBSTITUTION PETITIONS (approved by CAS and added to Guidelines 12/03)

Core requirements are never waived at Skidmore. However, on rare occasion, a student with an appropriately documented disability (who is also "registered" with the Disabilities Specialist in the Dean of Studies Office) may seek a substitution of course work in lieu of the College Foreign Language Requirement. The Disabilities Specialist will assist the student in completing the petition. A subcommittee of the Foreign Language Department will meet twice each year (in the fall prior to October 1, and in spring prior to March 1), to examine such requests. The FL subcommittee will then make a recommendation in writing to the CAS who will, in turn, decide to approve or deny the petition. In most cases, the CAS will require the successful student petitioner to take one pre-approved culture course in lieu of a course in a foreign language. Petitions to CAS regarding the FL Requirement must be submitted to the Disabilities Specialist in the Dean of Studies Office no later than the end of the junior year.

Progress Toward the Degree:

In addition to the minimal standards for continuation which the CAS establishes (with Faculty approval), monitors, and interprets, the CAS reviews the records of students who have not completed all the appropriate "Foundation" and "Interdisciplinary Study" requirements by the end of the sophomore year. The Registrar orchestrates the review process. The student is asked to "show cause," so to speak, why she or he has not completed these all-college requirements. The Registrar brings the explanations to the CAS, which fairly routinely hears of legitimate reasons for delay (for example, closed courses, a medical or personal leave, a heavy schedule of pre-med courses). The CAS sometimes requires a student to complete the first-year/sophomore requirements within some specified period of time. While the CAS does have the right to disqualify a student based on the student's inadequate progress in completing the all-college requirements, the CAS has not yet done so.

Eligibility for August Graduation:

The CAS, guided by the Office of the Registrar, is responsible for approving students for graduation. The CAS, represented by the Registrar, presents the candidates for graduation to the Faculty at a special meeting each May. Before that point the CAS reviews the records of students who have not yet met all graduation requirements (both course and GPA requirements) but who might be able to do so by the August after graduation. In deciding whether a student should remain on the May graduation list (with an asterisk indicating August graduation), and thus be allowed to participate in all Commencement exercises, the CAS determines whether it is "mathematically possible and academically feasible" (CAS decision of May 5, 1989) for the student to graduate by August. The completion plan must also possess "educational integrity." If the student's plan for completing remaining degree requirements does not meet these criteria, the CAS will not approve the student for inclusion on the graduation list (the student is then reclassified for a later time of graduation).

(Comment: the CAS criteria are an effort to preserve the quality of the student's degree and academic experience and to present to the Faculty a credible graduation list for their approval. The CAS never approves for graduation in May a student who has not fully met every GPA criterion and course requirement: a departure of this sort, except for "course substitutions" as defined above, would require a vote by the full Faculty.)

Eligibility for College and Departmental Honors at Graduation:

The CAS, with information provided by the Office of the Dean of Studies and the Office of the Registrar, approves candidates for honors at graduation. Departmental Honors are based on GPA plus the support of the major department; College Honors (cum laude, etc.) are based solely on cumulative GPA. There is no departure from the published criteria.

Disqualifications and Waivers:

The most difficult task of the CAS occurs every January and June as the CAS reviews the records of students who have not met minimal standards for continuation. The Office of the Registrar supplies the data for these considerations, and the individual cases are presented to the CAS by the Office of the Dean of Studies. The CAS has three options when a student has not met minimal standards:

1)The student may be disqualified from continuing studies at Skidmore. All cases are reviewed, first, according to the "minimal standards for continuation" established by the Faculty. Any departures from these criteria are made on a case-by-case basis taking into consideration the decline or improvement in the student's record, the quality of the previous high school record (as a measure of potential and promise), the academic and numerical feasibility of the student's being able to improve the record sufficiently, extenuating problems of a serious medical or personal nature, etc. When a HEOP/AOP student has failed to meet minimal standards, the CAS invites the HEOP/AOP office to provide recommendations to the Committee. The Committee then considers these recommendations in relation to other student records under review.

SOCIAL INTEGRITY INFORMATION AND ACADEMIC REVIEW (approved byCAS and added to Guidelines 12/03)

As of the 2004 January Academic Review meeting, and at CAS's discretion, information about students' social integrity records at the College may be incorporated into the committee's deliberations. Social integrity information may help guide CAS decision-making in regards to the granting Waivers of Minimal Standards to students by shedding light on the advisability and feasibility of such decisions as well as the students' potential for academic success. Information provided by the Dean of Student Affairs will be considered in the context of a student's overall academic and social profile at the College. The process for soliciting social integrity information will be as follows: (1) the Dean of Studies Office will provide the Dean of Student Affairs with a list of all students to be reviewed prior to the Review meeting, and (2) the Dean of Student Affairs will attend the Review meeting and supply information about only those student cases he deems most serious.

In all DQ considerations, the CAS is much more concerned about the quality of the transcript record than about small shortages of earned semester hours. The CAS gives special consideration to first-semester, first-year students, and in most cases gives them a one-term waiver or requires them to take a leave for a semester followed by a one-term waiver rather than disqualify them. Effective June 2004, CAS decided that first-year students enrolled in Skidmore's London Program will be required to meet the same first semester minimal standards as first-year students at the home campus: i.e., complete 6 (six) semester hours and earn a GPA of 1.67 or higher. Semester hour credits and/or GPA credits earned by a student prior to the first semester (such as AP credits, Skidmore summer programs, HEOP/AOP summer program, etc.) do not factor into Academic Review decisions for these students.

2) The student may be granted a one-semester waiver in order to improve her or his academic record and to meet the next minimal standard. If the CAS believes the student should have a second chance of this sort, but that one semester would not be sufficient for the student to meet the next minimal standard, the CAS may require the waiver student to meet a specified GPA by the conclusion of the next semester of study or to be disqualified at that time. If the student meets the specified mark, then CAS may grant a second waiver with a new stipulation. A student studying at Skidmore on a waiver may be required, at the discretion of the CAS and/or the Office of the Dean of Studies, to meet regularly with an academic counselor.

3) In rare cases, when we know a student has experienced very serious personal or medical problems that still need to be addressed, the CAS may require the student to take a leave of absence for a semester, followed by a one-semester waiver. The CAS decided during the 1991-92 academic year to use this option very sparingly, only when we believe the student needs time away from the College. With the approval of the CAS, the leave/waiver student may be permitted to take one or two courses at another institution for transfer to Skidmore while the student is on leave.

The Office of the Dean of Studies communicates the CAS decisions on disqualifications and waivers to the students and their families. Appeals from any CAS decision must be based on new and compelling evidence and must be addressed only to the chair of the Committee on Academic Standing or to the Dean of Studies. If either the chair or dean believes that significant new evidence is available, either party may re-convene the CAS for further consideration.

(Comment: it has been the general experience of the CAS that appeals from disqualification decisions are rarely successful. The Committee almost always has sufficient evidence at hand to reach its decisions, and the Committee takes great care to compare the different cases in an equitable way and to take into account all serious extenuating factors. The Committee's decisions are, moreover, made in the context of all other DQ decisions. A subsequent appeal from an individual student may require the CAS to reconsider a number of its previous decisions.)

Readmission:

Application for readmission to the College is made through the Office of the Dean of Studies. The more routine readmissions (for example, for in absentia completion of a few degree requirements, or to reverse a financial withdrawal during the summer) are decided by the Office of the Dean of Studies and reported to the CAS. The CAS regularly reviews readmission requests in which the student's previous academic record is at issue. Students who were disqualified from Skidmore must usually wait for one year before applying for readmission. In the case of a disqualified first-year students, the waiting period has sometimes been reduced to one semester. The CAS bases its readmission decisions primarily on the student's previous Skidmore record, the evidence of a subsequent college record, the likelihood that the student can be academically successful at Skidmore, and the availability of courses in the student's field(s) of interest (CAS memo Nov. 8, 1988) At certain times (especially as we consider the numbers of incoming and returning students for the Fall semester), the CAS may be limited in the number of students it can consider for readmission. The number of available slots is determined by the Data Group at the College.

Candidates for readmission who originally entered Skidmore prior to Fall 1985, and who have earned fewer than 90 semester hours of Skidmore credit, will be expected to fulfill all the "Foundation, "Integration," and "Exploration" requirements (with the exception of LSI) in effect at the point of readmission.

Academic Eligibility Standards for Skidmore Student Athletes
(Compromise reached between Athletic Council and CAS 12/02)

1) The Director of Athletics will maintain accurate, up-to-date rosters of all competing athletes according to class year, sport, and semester(s) of sport involvement. These rosters will be disseminated at regular intervals to the Dean of Studies Office, Office of the Registrar, and the Dean of the Faculty. This information will enable the Dean of Studies Office to respond more effectively to any athlete whose academic performance is slipping (just as we do for all students), especially to prompt a discussion with students regarding the balance of time commitments between academics and athletics.

2) Information concerning a student athlete's poor academic performance will also be communicated periodically to the Athletic Director (through joint meetings between the AD and the DOS) who, in turn, will notify the relevant coach who will meet with the student athlete to help the athlete fulfill his or her academic responsibilities. The faculty advisor, the coach, and the Athletic Director all have the same goal-- which is to be sure that the student athlete is academically successful and knows about the available academic support services and the academic standards expected of him or her in order to earn a Skidmore degree.

3) According to Division III bylaws, in order "to represent an institution in intercollegiate athletics, a student athlete must be enrolled in at least a minimum full-time program of studies" (Division III Bylaw 14.01.2). At Skidmore this minimum is 12 semester hours each term.

4) No student who has failed to meet any of Skidmore's semester-by-semester minimal continuation standards, as determined by the Committee on Academic Standing in its application of faculty-approved progress standards, and is thus placed on a one-one "waiver" from those standards, will be eligible to practice with or play on the intercollegiate sports teams.

5) Summer (or January) academic work completed at Skidmore or elsewhere will not alter a waiver student's academic standing or his or her athletic eligibility for the following semester.

December 17, 2002

DISRUPTIVE STUDENT WITHDRAWAL PROCEDURE

Overview:

Central to Skidmore's philosophy is a commitment to freedom of thought, expression, and behavior. The College is also committed to providing supportive assistance to students who may be experiencing academic or personal difficulties. It is never the intention of the College to stifle debate, to discourage the expression of different and provocative points of view, to prescribe a particular behavior pattern in the classroom, or to exclude students from the educational opportunities provided at Skidmore without serious cause. Any initiative to require a student to withdraw from a classroom must reflect Skidmore's care and concern for its students' well being and for their rights and freedoms.

The College also takes seriously the responsibility of all members of a learning community to interact in a respectful and civil manner in every area of community life. Disruptive or disrespectful behavior that subverts the efforts of faculty and students to pursue the teaching and learning process cannot be sanctioned. In some extreme cases of disruptive and/or disrespectful student behavior in the classroom, it may be necessary for an instructor to request the withdrawal of a student from a class in order to insure the educational rights of other students, to protect the personal and pedagogical rights of the instructor, or to protect the personal or academic well being of an individual student.

If a very serious case needing immediate intervention arises, College officials may draw on policy and procedure already outlined in the Student Handbook, which states that "the College has the right and obligation to act upon conduct not in accord with the informing principles of the Honor Code or codes of conduct. Violations of the Skidmore Honor Code and code of conduct include…obstruction or disruption of teaching or other educational activities on the College campus or other property used for educational purposes" (page 6). If the instructor confronts an issue requiring swift attention, he or she should consult immediately with the department chair and the Dean of Studies, who may recommend to the Dean of Student Affairs that the student withdraw from, or be withdrawn from, the class. The Director of Campus Safety may be asked in these situations to interview the student and others who may have witnessed the disruptive behavior. The Director of Campus Safety also has the authority to intervene immediately in any seriously disruptive situation. If the student's withdrawal from the class is the only viable course of action, the student may be allowed to withdraw immediately with a grade of W or WF or be required to do so by the Dean of Student Affairs.

Definitions of Disruptive Classroom Behavior:

1) The student routinely or periodically exhibits language or behavior that makes it difficult for instructional activities to continue.

2) The student on one or more occasions exhibits language or behavior of such a disturbing, disrespectful, or threatening nature as to make the student's return to class untenable.

Procedures:

1) Whenever the situation allows, the College will try to resolve behavioral conflicts through a deliberative process. Thus, in cases of disruptive behavior not requiring immediate intervention from the Dean of Student Affairs and/or Campus Safety (as described above), the instructor should speak with the student privately and in a confidential setting; however, if the behavior seems threatening to the instructor, she or he should ask the chair of the department and/or the Dean of Studies to join the initial discussion. (Here, too, the Director of Campus Safety may be asked to aid the process.) The conversation should occur soon after the first sign of disruptive behavior, and the instructor should express clearly the difficulties caused by the student's behavior and describe the changes in behavior that need to take place. If appropriate, the instructor may recommend that the student seek help from the Counseling Center. The instructor is advised to give the student a written summary of expectations and should also retain a documented record of the student's disruptive behavior and of all interactions he/she has with the student regarding the behavior. (Instructor notes should focus entirely on the behavior itself, not speculate regarding motives or underlying causes of the behavior.)

3) If the disruptive behavior persists after the first conversation, the instructor should seek the advice and intervention of the department chair and the Dean of Studies, both of whom can help the instructor consider alternative classroom strategies, can speak directly with the student about the situation, or can move to the procedure in #4 below. If the consulting group believes that the student behavior might still be ameliorated, the Dean of Studies will prepare a formal letter for the student that outlines the faculty member's expectations regarding acceptable (and unacceptable) classroom behavior. The Dean will also indicate in the same letter his/her recommendation in the event there is a recurrence of unacceptable behavior (for example, immediate withdrawal from the course). Copies of this letter will go to the instructor and the department chair.

4) If an involuntary withdrawal seems necessary, the decision-making process will be as follows (except when, as described above, the case has required immediate intervention by Campus Safety and/or the Dean of Student Affairs): the instructor, the department chair, and the Dean of Studies will interview the student when possible (if this has not already occurred) and make their recommendation to the Dean of Student Affairs (a letter from the Dean of Studies may already be on file as a result of action in #3 above). If the chair is also the instructor of the class, then a tenured, senior member of the department will join this deliberation. A recommendation for course withdrawal requires the concurrence of the instructor and one other member of the consulting team (either the chair or the Dean of Studies).

5) If the consulting team makes a recommendation to the Dean of Student Affairs, the Dean will determine whether the student should be withdrawn from the class or whether a different course of action is more appropriate. Under most circumstances the student will receive a grade of "W" (or a "WF" if appropriate).

Jon Ramsey, Ann Henderson, Tina Levith
Draft of August 11, 2003; revised 10/31/03, 11/11/03, 11/19/03, 1/24/04, 1/29/04

APPROVED by the Committee on Academic Standing and the
Committee on Academic Freedom and Rights

Other CAS Decisions:

The CAS may make other decisions, as appropriate, on questions relating to academic standing and standards and may initiate proposals on these issues with the Faculty.