In hurrying to accommodate the influx of students created by
Tidal Wave II and in search of immediate solutions to the
anticipated lack of funding in the near future, our university has
hastily made the tradeoff between its quality of education and a
greater quantity of education.
As the College of Letters and Science states, students admitted
after fall 2001 must complete a minimum of 13 units per quarter
upon entering UCLA during their freshman year. They have to
complete between 13 and 16 units every quarter thereafter ““
increasing the amount of units in which they enroll by at least one
unit every two quarters. Students therefore must expect to
take four classes per quarter.
The move is intended to reduce the amount of time it takes
students to complete their degree requirements. The
university’s administration hopes to eventually boost the
campus’ state funding by increasing the number of students
going through the system and decreasing the cost of education per
student.
The university has imposed the new minimum progress requirement
without considering students’ holistic needs. Equally
importantly, the policy has the potential to undermine the
university’s aim to make education readily available to
students of every socio-economic background. We have already
observed this policy’s impact on minority students from the
data compiled from the Academic Advancement Program and the Campus
Retention Center.Â
Students who are in AAP are generally students of color from
low-income families. Students who are on minimum progress probation
are predominantly AAP students. The university should be trying to
support the efforts of its underprivileged students, not
implementing policies that hinder their academic pursuits.
The proposed minimum progress requirement has no clear plan for
implementation. Students are required to meet Expected
Cumulative Progress, which is monitored on a biquarterly
basis. Undergraduate students who do not meet Expected
Cumulative Progress in the previous two completed quarters are
placed on ECP probation and those who do not meet the requirement
in the previous four completed quarters are subject to
disqualification from further registration at the university.
As stated in the UCLA Academic Senate manual, petitions for
exceptions to these requirements are granted only for extraordinary
circumstances by the vice provost for undergraduate education.
However, these exceptions are not explicitly stated, and thus
may deter students from filing the petition. The university
and the College of Letters and Sciences does not state clear
guidelines regarding how to deal with students whose petitions are
not granted. Many who receive exemptions are contacted and excused
from meeting ECP for the following quarters.Â
UCLA provides value to California only as it provides a high
quality educational program. Currently the SRC, AAP, and the
Academic Affairs Commission has made efforts to make students aware
of the ECP issues. Hopefully, through the work of both students and
administration, these problems may be addressed before students are
greatly affected.
Lagrimas is a fourth-year political science and Asian
American
studies student.