An EPC draft proposal to streamline graduation requirements
11 November 1998

The Educational Policy Committee is working on a proposal to streamline graduation requirements.  The proposal as it now stands is detailed below, followed by a brief discussion of justifications and clarifications.  We believe the process of crafting faculty legislation benefits from consultation with the entire Wesleyan community, and therefore we invite comment on the proposal.  Please send written comments and questions to the EPC by either email [epc@wesleyan.edu] or to Vijay Pinch’s mailbox in the History Department, PAC.  A student forum is being scheduled and will be announced.  As yet there are no plans to hold a faculty forum on this issue.  But if we sense an overwhelming clamor for such an event, one can easily be arranged.

Draft Proposal, which would go into effect for the class of 2003

 
 Rationale and Background
 
 This proposal is an integrated package of recommendations.  The primary goals are to encourage and enable Wesleyan students to take four academically challenging courses each semester, and to strengthen the Wesleyan character of the degree.  Likely additional outcomes include:  a drop in the number of students who choose to transfer away from Wesleyan after the frosh year; an increase in the proportion of students who graduate in four years; an improvement in class access during registration, particularly for sophomores.  What follows is a brief point-by-point rationale along with background information and clarifications.
 
Require 32 credits to graduate.  We believe that Wesleyan undergraduates should take four academically challenging courses per semester over an 8-semester period. Wesleyan's current 34-credit requirement has meant that students have been expected to earn five credits during two semesters,  usually in their sophomore year when they do not enjoy priority access to either FYI courses or courses in a major.  This often leads to a dilution of the course schedule.  We propose reducing the number of credits required to graduate to 32.  This reduction in the total credit requirement would be offset, we believe, by the accompanying components of the proposal.
 
 Institute a Residency Requirement.
 Wesleyan’s current policy (1998-99 Blue Book, p. 93) allows students to graduate with as few as 16 credits taken at Wesleyan or on Wesleyan-sponsored programs, with no residency requirement for the senior year.  Our proposal changes Wesleyan’s policy in three respects:  first, it understands "in residence" to mean on campus at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT; second, it requires a minimum of six semesters in residence; and third, it requires that at least one semester of the senior year be in residence.  Our proposal would preclude only junior transfers from counting credits earned in non-resident study toward graduation.  We believe this proposal would enhance the Wesleyan experience for students by promoting greater involvement in the Wesleyan community and greater contact with the Wesleyan faculty.

 Eliminate Graduation upon Completion.  "Graduation upon Completion" came into effect in the spring of 1968 as a "stopgap" measure to allow those students who had become engaged in political protest movements to graduate with their class.  Unfortunately over the past three decades this measure has hardened into an institutional policy that actually lures some students away from completing the degree.  It should be eliminated.  The Dean’s Office should craft procedures around already existing policies on "incompletes" that deal with students who fail to earn their credits by the end of the senior year.  As we envision such procedures, a petition to receive an incomplete in a course would require the formal approval of the advisor, instructor, and senior class dean.  Students receiving such incompletes would be allowed to participate with their class in the graduation ceremony, but would not be awarded the degree until completion of the course requirements.  The degree awarded, moreover, would bear the date of the following year (or, in case of inordinate delays due to health emergencies, the year in which the course requirements are completed).  We are convinced, in any event, that the proposed 32-credit requirement and the enhanced supervision that will result from increased residency will produce fewer seniors with credit deficits in the final semester.

 Limit Advanced Placement credits.  There is currently no limit to the number of A.P. credits (and their equivalents) that can be directed toward graduation.  Students are informed that they are expected to carry a full load regardless of the A.P. credits they bring to Wesleyan, and the majority do so.  However, given the proposed reduction of credits necessary  for graduation from 34 to 32, we believe that Wesleyan should emphasize the "placement" aspect of A.P. credits more than the "advanced" aspect.  An A.P. track record should be used to gauge the levels of achievement by our students so as to ensure they are not placed in what would be for them unchallenging courses.  We recognize the importance of listing all A.P. credits on the official transcript, particularly for students on the pre-medical track.  Consequently, we propose that A.P. credits continue to appear on the transcript and contribute to a total number of credits earned (as they have in the past), even though no more than two will count toward graduation.
 
 Limit Physical Education and Student Forum credits.  Wesleyan currently limits the number of Physical Education and Student Forum courses that may count to graduation to 2 credits in each.  Given the proposed reduction in credits required to graduate, we believe that it is appropriate to limit the number of credits allowed to count from Physical Education to 1 and from Student Forum courses to 2, with no more than a combined total of 2.