cbi
n
y
thursday, September 21, 1972
lincoln, nebraska vol. 96, no. 1 1
'Bankruptcy' could end failure
by Chris Harper
Michael closed the cover of the examination
booklet. He had failed the final test. His failure was
not caused by lack of intelligence, but because of
family problems, he missed nearly four weeks of
classes.
When he finished the exam Michael hadn't ended
the year. That semester would continue to haunt him
if he'd decide to attend graduate school or seek
employment.
If a system called "academic bankruptcy" at the
University of Indiana were adopted at UNL, it might
help students such as Michael, according to two UNL
administrators. Another administrator was not so
optimistic.
Under Indiana's program a student can declare
bankruptcy arid throw out that period's poor work.
The actual marks, however, are not expunged from
the student's transcript.
Crumbling love affairs, pregnancy, family and
psychiatric problems, and hitchhiking to California
are some of the reasons why more than 1 00 students
declared bankruptcy at Indiana after the program
began in 1971.
"I think academic bankruptcy would be feasible at
UNL," says Roy Arnold, acting director of residential
instruction for the UNL college of agriculture.
"I don't think it's unreasonable to let people start
over academically," ArnoL said. "If you read the
newspapers you'll find that we allow people to go
financially bankrupt every day."
Arnold cited several instances where students
might have been helped by academic bankruptcy.
"One student was disturbed over a friend's death
in an auto accident and it ruined his whole semester,"
he said.
'Two students left UNL after a bad year and they
went to a technical school," he added. 'The
opportunity to erase the semester would have been a
great advantage to them."
Arnold said he believes that academic bankruptcy
also would help the transient student.
"Academic bankruptcy is consistent with a trend
that many educators call 'interrupted education,"
Arnold said. "Students don't go to school for four
consecutive years. They interrupt their education
because they need the money or to gain
experience.",
A bankrupt semester's inclusion on a student's
transcript would not hurt the person, according to
Arnold.
"It does not do great harm to have it on the
transcript," he said. "An employer will see that a
student has had difficulty and then overcame that
diff iculty which would be to the student's credit."
Mel George, Dean of the College of Arts and
Sciences, said he favors the concept of academic
bankruptcy, but said he views the proposal as an
"addition rather than an alternative to the present
system at UNL."
UNL's existing policy says that if a student scores
less than a grade of 'C in a course, he can replace the
low mark by retaking the course. If the student scores
a higher grade, then the subsequent grade will replace
the former mark in the student's grade point average.
The original and subsequent grades, however, both
will appear on the student's transcript.
"UNL's system requires that a student declares
bankruptcy by retaking the course," George said.
At times the courses are the reason for a student's
poor performance, he added. Academic bankruptcy
would aid these students, he said.
'The Indiana plan forces you to wipe out the
whole semester," George said. "You may have an 'A'
or 'B' and that also would be wiped out." The UNL
program would be more flexible in this case, he
added.
Both the Indiana and UNL system overlap in some
areas but they both have some good options, George
said.,
Gerald Bowker, UNL Director of Academic
Services, was a bit more skeptical.
'This kind of program only benefits the student at
that single institution," Bowker said. "If a student
transfers to another school, that college computes
their own grade point average. They may include the
bankrupt semester in the GPA."
Graduate schools also compute their own grade
point average, he added.
Bowker said he "needed more evidence concerning
how the program helps the student." He noted that
the adoption of the bankruptcy program only could
be instituted by the UNL Faculty Senate.
Bowker lauded the UNL program: "Whereas our
system is certainly not perfect, it gives a chance for a
student to recover,"
More than 1,000 students use the "retake" system
each semester, he said. The pass-fail option has helped
lower the number of freshmen on academic probation
by 10 per cent over the last five years, he added.
"It's apparent that the students feel good about
the system at Indiana," Bowker said, "but the jury
really isn't in yet. The thing that you have to watch is
that what the student thinks may benefit him, indeed
may not. Students are not always totally aware of the
implications of these programs."
I.- f 1 ' ' Ji In'-
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r i 111 At V. A :. ,
J: 3m
photo by Gall Folds
Garden will
help native
plant study
A native plant garden,
located between Oldfather Hall
and the botany greenhouse, has
been completed over the
summer. It is dedicated to Dr.
Harry Lloyd Weaver.
Besides beautifying an area
that once was an eyesore, the
garden will be used for botany
classes, greenhouse manager
Glenn Drohman said.
All plants in the garden are
native to Nebraska eoecially
the Lincoln area, according to
Drohman.
"A garden of this nature
will always be changing," he
said. Besides prairie-type
plants, a small pond is located
in the garden for aquatic
plants.
Drohman noted the garden
will make it easier for students
to study Nebraska flora.
Weaver, for whom the
garden was dedicated, was a
UNL botany professor. He also
was an associate dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences.