By Dustin VisseringStaff Writer
More students will soon be recognized for all their hard work atSan Diego State. A motion was recently passed by the UniversitySenate to change the current dean’s list policy, which will allowabout 1,400 more students each semester to be on the list, Dean ofDivision of Undergraduate Studies Geoffrey Chase said.
Under the current policy, a maximum of 10 percent of eachcollege’s students can be included on the dean’s list. In addition,students must have a grade-point average of at least 3.50. The newpolicy will remove the requirement of students having to be in thetop-10 percent of their college, and the only criterion to be placedon the dean’s list will be for students to earn a 3.5 GPA or higher.
Chase said the Undergraduate Council felt having the percentage aspart of the criteria is unfair because it causes the GPA required forthe dean’s list in a given semester to fluctuate.
“A 3.62 GPA, for example, might not allow you to be on the listone semester, while in another semester a 3.51 would because of the10 percent,” he said.
Chase said no other colleges or universities in the countryrequire students to be in a top percentile of their colleges to be onthe dean’s list.
Computer science senior Andrea Sanchez said having more studentson the list every semester will lead to positive results for SDSU.
“Being on the dean’s list gives students a feeling that the workthey are doing in school is being noticed,” she said. “I think thatalone will help a lot of students try harder and get even bettergrades in the future.”
Chase said the reason for the change in policy was a combinationof the university really needing to align itself with otherinstitutions and, more importantly, to provide a sense of fairness tostudents.
“The biggest benefit is that all students who get a certain GPAwill be recognized,” he said. “The policy puts emphasis on meritrather than on comparison.
“Without the percentages, if you hit a certain criterion, such asa 3.5 GPA, you’re in, rather than being compared to other people.”
Biology sophomore Ronnie Allen said the changes to the dean’s listshould have been made a long time ago because the policy discouragessome students.
“It’s just unfortunate the school is just now realizing that theyneed to change their policy because a lot of students have missed outon being on the dean’s list,” he said. “I’m glad they have finallydecided to make the changes though. I think it will really help theschool academically in the long run.”
According to the policy, in addition to having at least a 3.5 GPA,students must have at least 12 units, each carrying a letter grade,to be placed on the dean’s list.
Chase said the new policy will be implemented immediately,possibly as early as this semester.
