Prairie View A&M University Graduate Program administrators and students have developed mixed feelings about procedures and policies in the Graduate School Grading Catalogue.
The catalog mandates that every student enrolled in graduate school program must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0.
The catalog also requires any student making a letter grade below “C” to be dismissed from the program.
These requirements, along with the notorious “Two C Rule,” a rule forcing any student who makes more than one C to be dropped from the program, are assumed standards any student in graduate school is expected to meet.
Although these policies are established in PVAMU’s graduate code of conduct manual, students are still having a hard time complying and accepting these standards, standards that one student referred to as “academic injustice.”
George La Blanche, a student who was dismissed from the educational administration program during the summer, said, “Repeatedly and respectfully I have asked for the reevaluation, wisdom, and purpose of the “Grade Below “C” Policy,” which garners the harshest penalty of dismissal. Why would a single grade be considered a more accurate assessment of a student’s performance, rather than GPA. Dismissing a student in this manner results in a punitive documented academic record that concludes failure.”
La Blanche claims he was declared scholastically deficient and released from the program after registering for the summer session.
He says he was two weeks into the summer session when he received a dismissal letter dating back to the previous semester, an issue he and others expressed their concerns about.
Dean of Graduate Studies Willie F. Trotty said, “The dismissal letters were mailed off after grades were checked and registration for the upcoming session was complete. It saddens me to hear about students being dropped, but if the students knew they didn’t meet requirements before-hand, the registration process shouldn’t have been carried out.”
The rule provides some leeway for students, allowing them to retake a course they received a “C” in to replace the current grade.
Unlike Texas A&M’s policy, which allows students to make a “C” and retake courses where a grade below “C” was given, PVAMU’s policy strictly enforces high standards.
Trotty said, “I think PVAMU’s policy is fair. A graduate program like Texas A&M is much harder to get into compared to ours. We believe in giving students access, but after access is granted, students have to meet the requirements.”
Although the “Two C Rule” is heavily enforced, it isn’t a requirement for all graduate programs.
According to Trotty, only three of eight graduate programs including College of Business, College of Education, and College of Nursing, abide by the “Two C Rule,” which is currently under review by Provost E. Joahanna Thomas-Smith and the graduate council. Many graduate programs around the country enforce the rule, and according to Trotty proves the program’s validity.
President George C. Wright said, “I agree with the point made by Provost Thomas-Smith, that such a policy is worth revisiting by the graduate council. For what it is worth, the graduate programs that I attended and where I served as a professor have maintained this same rule, that making one “C” is grounds for being dismissed from the program.”