Appendix I

GUIDELINES FOR MORE RESTRICTIVE ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS
FOR ENTRANCE AND/OR RETENTION

The University Faculty Senate, in Policy 37-30 and Policy 54-56.1, established the minimum requirement for entrance to a college or major or retention in a program. If a program faculty wishes to request a more restrictive academic requirement than that approved by the Senate, this more restrictive requirement must be approved by the dean of that college. The dean shall then submit the proposal for more restrictive academic requirements to the Senate Committee on Curricular Affairs, through the University Curriculum Coordinator, for approval by the committee after general review and reported to the University faculty through the Senate Curriculum Report. The approved restrictive requirements for entrance and/or retention in a given college or major will be publicized in the Undergraduate Degree Programs Bulletin and through the Academic Information Bulletin system of the Division of Undergraduate Studies.

In endorsing the more restrictive academic requirements for entrance and/or retention, the Senate Committee on Curricular Affairs will use the following general principles as a guide:

1. Entrance requirements and retention requirements need not be the same. A student may be required to perform at a higher level for entrance than for retention.
   
   
2. The more restrictive requirements should be based on evidence of a student's ability to meet the future course requirements of the program. These additional requirements must be easily definable and should not require measurements that are not normally generated in a student's academic record. If application of more restrictive academic requirements must involve the approval of a committee or some other type of selection process, as in certain creative or performance areas, then the criteria for selection must be clearly stated and made available to the student.
   
   Some of the criteria that might be used include:
   
   a. grade-point average for all courses taken at Penn State.
   
   b. grade-point average in courses prescribed by the major or college in Senate-approved programs of study.
   
   c. grades in specific courses prescribed for the program of study and considered as essential requirements for further normal degree progress.
   
   Data shall be supplied to show how the more restrictive requirements relate to the student's ability to meet the future course requirements of the program.
   
   
3. More restrictive requirements may not be used:
   
   a. as a device to establish "elitist" programs or to establish "honors" type programs, unless they are recognized by the University as honors programs.
   
   b. as a device for rationing the number of graduates or entrants to an occupational category.
   
   c. as a device for setting enrollment restrictions because of limits on instructional resources. If such restrictions are necessary, the proper procedure is to request an enrollment ceiling through the Provost's Office.
   
   d. as an additional graduation requirement.
   
   
4. If more restrictive academic retention requirements are requested, there are several additional principles that must be considered:
   
   a. there must be some time reference included in the requirement (for example, a certain GPA by a certain term).
   
   b. these additional requirements should be based on a forecast of the student's ability to complete the course requirements in the program.
   
   c. the requirement should not be a de facto graduation requirement.