WHEREAS, Marginalized college students face unique systemic barriers [1] and these systemic barriers often contribute to worse academic performance in aggregate, especially post pandemic, due to facing “food insecur[ity], experiences of discrimination, [and] serious psychological distress,” [2] and furthermore, adult learners often described as students who are 25 or older [3] may have grades from years ago which no longer reflect their current academic performance;
WHEREAS, Having satisfactory grades is paramount to successfully transfer especially in STEM at minimum the UC system requires a 2.4 GPA (and 2.8 for non-residents), [4] the CSU system requires a 2.0 GPA, [5] and more competitive schools either have higher GPA requirements such as UC Berkeley’s 3.0 requirement [6] or they like Cal Poly San Luis Obispo note that successful “admits typically have a higher GPA” than the minimum [7];
WHEREAS, Academic renewal is a process by which California Community College students may “petition to have D’s and F’s removed from their GPAs [or transcripts depending upon the college],” after earning a defined level of academic success, as measured by grades, for a defined period of time [8]; and
WHEREAS, Academic renewal policies though they are a potential lifeline and second chance for students and a policy which can be used in service of equity are not standardized across the California Community College system, meaning that some community college students face increased difficulties when petitioning for academic renewal, due only to the college they attend, for example some colleges require two years to have passed [9] while others only require twelve months, [10] some colleges allow up to 30 units to be discarded via academic renewal [11] and others allow up to 24 units, [12] some colleges only permit academic renewal to be used once [13] and others have no such requirement [14]; and
RESOLVED, That the Student Senate of California Community Colleges make it a priority to advocate for a systemwide, uniform, student-centric catalog rights policy, which allows for at least 30 units to be discarded via academic renewal, may be used more than once until the maximum number of units has been discarded via academic renewal, and allows students to obtain academic renewal after at most twelve months; and
RESOLVED, That the Student Senate of California Community Colleges collaborate with the Academic Senate of California Community Colleges, the California Community College Chancellor's Office, and other system partners as a means to implement this resolution and seek to obtain a systemwide, uniform, student-centric catalog rights policy.
Citations:
[1] https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/sipr.12085
[2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10341237/
[5] https://www.calstate.edu/apply/transfer/Pages/upper-division-transfer.aspx
[6]https://www.admissions.berkeley.edu/apply-to-berkeley/transfer-students/transfer-requirements/
[7] https://www.calpoly.edu/admissions/transfer-student/selection-criteria
[9]https://www.ohlone.edu/sites/default/files/users/HBarkow/academic_renewal_07may2019.pdf
[11] https://www.mtsac.edu/gps/news/docs/academicrenewalrev.pdf
[12] https://www.westvalley.edu/catalog/grading-system/academic-renewal.html