Thursday, March 2, 1978
Committee to hold data on LAS drop policy
Bv KATHLEEN CONKEY
Staff Writer
Official data on the College of Liberal Arts and Science's new drop policy will not be released until the College Assembly reviews its effects. The 700 students felt its effects last semester.
Members of the Committee on Undergraduate Studies and Advising are holding the information until they have time to review it, Charles Reynolds, professor of chemistry and a committee member, said recently.
the policy, implemented on an experimental basis for the 1977/78 academic year, allows free withdrawal from LA & S classes until the seventh week of school. After that, a student must petition the college through the College Assembly committee on Undergraduate Studies and Advising.
March 10 is the last day for you
to file your application without
going through the petition process.
PETTITIONS ARE approved for reasons such as sickness, a shortage of funds or a heavy work schedule. Academic reasons are not accented.
Robert Cobb, dean of the college,
died at a drop-off petitions were received last semester.
Police poll will survey performance
ciety one, govern sake waste. a pat but at are
Staff Writer
In an effort to determine how the Lawrence Police Department can be improved, KU students and Lawrence officers will use their think they think about the city's police services.
By LUCY SMITF
A community-wide poll sponsored by the Lawrence Police Department will be conducted by Martin Research of Lawrence, also of Social Import Research, also of Lawrence.
People who say that they have called the police in the past year to report a crime will be asked a series of questions to determine the degree of satisfaction with the dispatcher who handled the call, the amount of time it took the police to respond and satisfaction with the way in which the police handled the case.
The poll will survey, by telephone, 400 people randomly selected from the Lawrence telephone directory and 200 people from police files. About 10 percent of those surveyed will be called back to ensure accuracy in statistics and interpretation.
emec junior
People who say that they have not reported a suspected crime to police will be asked to explain their reasons for not contacting police.
questions regarding neighborhood crime and how safe people feel living in their neighborhoods will be included in the survey.
Respondents also will be asked how their contact with the police affected their opinion of the quality of police services in Lawrence. $ _{4} $
Respondents' addresses will be requested to determine the police zone in which they live. The address then will be destroyed to ensure confidentiality.
Information on the person's income, education and age also will be requested.
At the end of the phone call, respondents will be encouraged to make suggestions on how police services might be improved in Lawrence.
The poll will cost the police department $15,000, which includes two to four weeks of actual telephone polling, and 24 weeks of analysis.
The poll is part of a program sponsored by
the University of Wisconsin law Enforcement
Assistance Administration.
The department was awarded an $88,000
Integrated Criminal Apprehension
Prevention Program.
Police said anyone who wanted further information on the poll should call the police
"Whether the large number is due to students not knowing about the change or not believing it, it's hard to say. It doesn't matter," she said of the new students know about the policy." Cobb said.
JOANNE HURST, assistant to the dean,
said her staff spent many hours working
overtime last semester to process the
notitions.
The old policy, initiated in 1969, allowed students to drop courses until the last day of classes with the instructor's signature and a grade of W or F.
In 1976 the Educational Policies and Procedures Committee of the College Assembly surveyed more than 300 faculty at four institutions that most favored a more restrictive policy.
According to Reynolds, chairman of the subcommittee which reviews petitions, the old policy was one of the most liberal in the country.
COBB SAID, "There was sentiment that students should have to make a decision."
A look at catalogs for Big Eight and Big Bigger might show that the most drop bump similar to the most
The new policy, however, is the strictest of all KU undergraduate schools in terms of procedure. No other undergraduate school requires students to get drop permission from a committee rather than an instructor or adviser.
THE NEW drop policy passed in the College Assembly last spring. Richard Cole, professor of philosophy and chairman of the committee, said the policy was needed to encourage students to complete courses they enrolled in.
"Students were dropping so many courses that they were in school six or eight years instead of four. The effect was that students gained skills, which they'd grow with it, stay around that long," Cole said.
Reynolds said his committee reviewed 280 petitions and turned down about 30 percent of them.
He called the rest of the petitions clear-cut and they were handled by the college offices.
REYNOLYS said the new policy cut down grade inflation and taught students about life. In the real world, if a person buys a car in the big city, you should back it back and cancel the contract, he said.
University Daily Kansan
Reynolds estimated that more students received F$^*$ last semester before the
"The purpose of a university is to teach students. A passing grade means the student successfully completed the course. Wremeans nothing," he said.
KRIS BURKETT, Granville, Ohio, junior, is one of those who received an F.
policy. He also said many more got passing grades instead of W's.
"I went to the philosophy department to drop, but they told me it was too late. It is frustrating to know I can do the work but have a technicality in the system, I already."
John Wright, professor of human
John Wright, professor of human
life, said the policy
children like children
"The policy has no advantages over the old one, but she could have dropped are she's said," she said.
WRIGHT SAID he did not think a loose drop policy caused grade inflation. He cited a 1976 study done by Ralph Christofferson, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs. The study showed that GPA's seemed better after the liberal policy was implemented.
"These aren't high schoolers. They pay and work for their education and their judgment should be sufficient to let them withdraw," he said.
Wright called the new policy a punitive one that some faculty members a made, saying it was "unnecessary."
"And that is no substitute for being a good teacher," he added.
"College is a training ground where students can try something and change their
RICKY GITT, St. Louis sophomore, said he never got a test back in his Greek and Roman Mythology class until after the free drop period. He wrote a petition explaining that he did not know he was doing badly until it was too late to drop.
minds if they wish. If you start burning students for changing their minds, you're taking away an important learning option," Wright said.
...they turned it down and suggested I write another petition and try to be more persuasive and maybe give a note from home that they should go too much for me, which wont true at all.
"I got a letter from the teacher that said he gave the test too late for me to drop. They still turned down. What's it to them if I say they? Aren't losing any money," he said.
Another sophomore explained how he got his petition through.
"I lied. I wasn't doing well in the class because I always slept through it. So I gave them a copy of my bank balance and a note from my supervisor saying that I was working during the class time and telling me that I was not going to have to use some ingenuity," he said.
The information collected about the drop policy will be reviewed in the College Assembly this spring. Joel Maille, an assembly, disacts the policy will be voted out.
"But a great deal of satisfaction exists about it among both student and faculty," she said.
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