Resolution to End the Credit Removal Policy

Updates

Presented to the Mānoa Faculty Senate by the Committee on Academic Policy and Planning for a vote of the full Senate on May 9, 2018. A resolution to end the credit removal policy.  Approved by the Mānoa Faculty Senate on May 9, 2018 with 46 votes in support; 7 votes opposed; and 3 abstentions.

RESOLUTION TO END THE CREDIT REMOVAL POLICY

WHEREAS, students are entitled to retain credits on their transcript for courses that they have earned; and

WHEREAS, some departments have statements in the course listing section of the UHM Catalog mandating the removal of credits for a course when a student successfully completes another specified course; and

WHEREAS, sometimes these course pairs are required; and

WHEREAS, removing credits after a student has completed a term may result in non-compliance with federal financial aid obligations, visa requirements, graduation credit totals, or other credit-dependent statuses; and

WHEREAS, in the Fall of 2017 this policy became a concern when one academic department retroactively removed credits from nearly 1,500 student and alumni transcripts; and

WHEREAS, credit removal is currently done at the discretion of individual unit academic advisors, resulting in inconsistent interpretation and application of the policy (e.g., credits removed for some students and not others); therefore

BE IT RESOLVED, the Mānoa Faculty Senate recommends that the OVCAA work to create a solution at the point of registration to prevent students from enrolling in course combinations that have previously resulted in credit removal due to overlapping content; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the Mānoa Faculty Senate recommends (except in cases of grade replacement) that earned credits should not be removed from transcripts.