Students may no longer have to worry about failing grades affecting their transcripts.
The ASU Academic Senate passed a motion to change the University's class withdrawal policies in their Oct. 18 meeting, extending the time for students to drop classes without a professor's approval.
According to Senate president-elect Susan Mattson, a professor in the College of Nursing, the motion did not specify how far the withdrawal deadline would be pushed back, though the minutes suggested an eight-week timeframe.
It is also unknown when the motion would go into effect.
"We voted to make it simpler and to give students more flexibility," said academic senator Tom Witt, an associate professor in the School of Design.
Currently, students can withdraw from a class during the first four weeks of the semester without having to obtain an instructor's signature.
The new motion eliminates restricted withdrawal and extends deadlines for complete and non-restricted withdrawal.
"I just don't think students should be penalized for taking a course and finding out they're not doing well," Witt said.
Witt also noted the current policy was confusing not only to students, but also to faculty.
Once the unrestricted withdrawal deadline has passed, students are only eligible for restricted withdrawal through the 10th week of the semester.
Students who choose to withdraw during this time must have a passing grade in the class and have instructor approval.
Pre-business junior Tegan Maxwell said she sees both advantages and disadvantages to the change.
"It helps a lot because sometimes you need [a good grade] for a scholarship," she said. "I just hope students don't use it as an excuse not to work hard."
Karen Leong, an assistant women's studies professor, said she thinks the change in policy may hurt the relationship between students and faculty because students will no longer have to talk to instructors before dropping the course.
"I just worry that it makes the University seem even more anonymous," Leong said.
Mattson said she wanted to amend the motion but was not given the opportunity before the motion was put to a vote.
She also said she hopes professors would still be consulted before a student withdraws from a class.
"Faculty put a lot of time into students 10 weeks into the class."
Reach the reporter at rkost@asu.edu.
