Academic Suspension: Are More Students Getting On It?

By Jordan Maynard
Rotunda ReporterOver the course of time students spend at Longwood University, they most likely have met a student who is or has been in academic difficulty. Here at Longwood, students go through a process where if their GPA drops below a 2.0 they are placed on academic probation, and if their GPA drops below a 1.5 or they have been on probation for two consecutive semesters they are placed on academic suspension.

Rebecca Sturgill, director of the Learning Center said, "When students are academically suspended, they are politely requested to separate themselves from the university for a semester, at any point after that they may apply for readmission." Probation is when a student's grades have deemed them in academic trouble, and they must raise their GPA or risk suspension.

These students in academic difficulty are more common than the average student realizes. However, the number of students being placed in this category is going down. Over the past three semesters, the number of students on their first academic probation has dropped by 17 percent. The number of students on their first academic suspension has dropped by 30 percent.

Of the students earning their first academic suspension, 46 were first semester students, two were continuing freshmen, 13 were sophomores, nine were juniors, and eight were seniors. 138 first semester students also earned academic probation, with one continuing freshmen, 20 sophomores, 14 juniors, and three seniors earning probation as well. Even though these numbers seem high, most of the 961 first semester students did well.

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Wayne McWee, said, "This year's numbers are a little lower for last year's fall. We have really good retention of freshmen between first and second semester. We have a good retention from last year's freshmen to this year's sophomores. About 83 percent of last year's freshmen are now sophomores, that is about four to five percent better than last years. We've worked really hard and are glad to see some success."

Even with lower numbers, Longwood's policy for suspensions is changing, starting this May. McWee said, "The new policy is that if at the end of May you had that 1.5 GPA you are suspended. If you wish to come to summer school, you must send a letter to the petitions committee asking to come back for summer school and in that letter you would have to explain how you're going to go about getting yourself academically healthy."

Previously, students could use the summer term to help them raise their GPA so they could stay at Longwood. McWee said the policy caused problems; students did not use the summer term to their advantage and it caused issues with housing. "We did not suspend you and you could reserve your housing. We get to August and we have to suspend you, and we have 30-40 rooms for people that don't come back. I have reserved 150 seats in classes, and good students wanted that class and might not have gotten the class. It's going to be beneficial to students in good academic standing," McWee said. Of the students that used the summer term to try to improve their GPA this past summer, only "seven came to summer school, and only three successfully got off academic warning. The others made their situation worse."

Overall, fewer students are receiving academic probation or suspension, even among freshmen. The university hopes to see these numbers drop even further.