Academic procedures and policies are subject to change at any time. Changes may involve course content, credit hours, program requirements, and program admission requirements among others. It is the students’ responsibility to review their Degree Audit Report (DARS) and confer with their academic advisors, the appropriate academic department, and the Office of Academic Records regarding current academic procedures and policies.

Absence Policy
The Student Health Center will provide written verification when it confines students to their residences or the Health Center for 24 hours or longer. Written verification will be provided when a student is hospitalized if the Health Center is aware of the situation. The Health Center does not routinely issue statements verifying a brief student visit to the Health Center. Phone verification of Health Center visits may be provided to an instructor at the student’s request. No confidential information about the student’s health status can be released without the student’s permission. The vice president for academic affairs will be notified by the Health Center when a student is expected to be out of classes for an extended period of time. Faculty members will be notified through their deans’ offices.

Academic Advisors
Academic advisors are assigned in the freshman year by the students’ major department or the Academic Advisement Center. Some departments may reassign their students to different academic advisors during the students’ sophomore year. Secondary education students are assigned academic advisors by the department of secondary education/foundations of education in consultation with the content area department. Exploratory program students are assigned academic advisors by the Academic Advisement Center.

It is the academic advisors’ responsibility to aid their advisees with their academic and educational plans. The advisors are not responsible for making certain that their advisees major and liberal studies requirements have been met. This is the sole responsibility of the students.

Academic Complaints
Students who want to file an appeal concerning any academic matter should first contact their instructor. Barring resolution there, students should contact the appropriate departmental chairperson, then the appropriate dean. Further appeal is to be directed to the provost and vice president for academic affairs. Please refer to the university’s Grade Appeal Policy.

Academic Dismissal
Academic dismissal results with the third academic suspension. Students who have been academically dismissed may appeal to the Academic Dismissal Review Board after sitting out for one calendar year.

Academic Integrity
The value of a Slippery Rock University education is determined by the quality and character of Slippery Rock University students and graduates. Therefore, students and student organizations are expected to uphold academic integrity.

• All academic work, including, but not limited to, papers, computer programs, assignments, and tests, must consist of the students’ own work.
  
• Students are expected to learn and practice proper techniques for accurately citing resource material.
  
• Students are expected to be honest in all academic work, refraining from all forms of cheating.
  
• Students are expected to function as students, including, but not limited to, attending class regularly and completing all assignments and examinations.

Students charged with academic dishonesty will deal with either the coordinator of student standards or the course instructor or both. If the instructor handles the matter, the instructor is to inform the departmental chairperson of the problem and its resolution. The department chairperson is to forward the information to the appropriate dean who will then inform the provost and vice president for academic affairs. If the instructor decides to refer the matter to
the Office of Student Standards, the coordinator of student standards will begin institutional action through an investigation into the matter. If there is sufficient cause, students will be notified of the charges brought against them under the Code of Conduct. The student may then face judicial action, in addition to the instructor’s action, which may include a university hearing board that could lead to suspension or dismissal from the university.

Academic dishonesty may take many forms. Examples of academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to, the following:

• buying, selling, or trading papers, projects, or other assignments;
• using or attempting to use any unauthorized book, notes, or assistance from any person during a quiz or examination;
• plagiarizing and/or submitting the work of another as your own;
• fabricating information or citations;
• facilitating dishonest acts of others pertaining to academic work
• possessing unauthorized examinations;
• submitting, without instructor permission, work previously used;
• tampering with the academic work of another person;
• ghosting-taking a quiz or exam in place of a student or having any person take a quiz or exam in your place;
• any attempt to falsify an assigned grade or an examination, quiz, report, or program or in a grade book, document, or other record;
• any attempt, or actual, computer program theft; illegal use of software; inappropriate use of the Internet, such as, but not limited to, illegal or unauthorized transmissions; or improper access to any computer system
  or account;
• any attempt, or actual, collusion willfully giving or receiving unauthorized or unacknowledged assistance on any assignment (both parties to the collusion are considered responsible.)
• forging a faculty member’s or administrator’s signature on any card, form or document.

Academic Probation
If the quality point average (QPA) for all courses attempted at Slippery Rock University is less than a 2.000 (C), the student will be placed on academic probation. Students on academic probation may continue at the university under conditions developed by the appropriate academic dean or the Director of Retention services and agreed to by the students. Students will also be placed on academic probation whenever they earn less than a 1.000 semester QPA and have a cumulative QPA of 2.000 or higher.

Academic Renewal
Students occasionally perform at an academic level that makes them ineligible to continue their studies, and they withdraw or are suspended from school. Subsequently, some want to resume their college work but find their previous academic record an obstacle.

Academic Renewal provides an opportunity for persons in this situation to apply for a fresh undergraduate start at Slippery Rock University on the basis that their entire prior undergraduate record be disregarded and they begin their college study again with no credits attempted or earned and no quality points earned. No transfer credits taken at any time will be used towards the completion of an SRU degree. Academic Renewal may be awarded to a student only once and is applicable only to students enrolled at Slippery Rock University.

Prior to applying for admission on this basis, at least five years must have elapsed since the end of the semester in which the applicant was last in attendance for credit at any college or university. The applicant must present evidence that the conditions which caused the poor academic record have changed so there is now a reasonable expectation that the applicant will perform satisfactorily if admitted.

Upon approval of the petition by the Director of Retention Services or dean of the college in which the student was enrolled prior to their withdrawal or suspension, the student will be admitted as a beginning freshman. Students showing competency in any area may be allowed advanced standing (without credit) or a waiver of requirements just as any entry-level student.

It should be noted that the prior record remains a part of the student’s overall academic record, but none of it carries forward as part of a degree program. The date of the Academic Renewal will be entered on the student’s transcript along with a statement prohibiting the use of previously earned credits and quality points in meeting degree requirements, computing grade point average, graduation status, or academic dismissal. Students are cautioned that graduate and professional schools often compute a grade point average over all hours attempted when considering applicants for admission.

Application forms are available in the Office of Retention Services or the dean’s office of each college within the university. The deadline for applying for academic renewal is the last day that the student may receive a grade of “W” is at the end of the third week of the semester following the student’s return to SRU.

Academic Suspension
Academic suspension will occur as a result of any of the following conditions:

1. Earning a QPA of less than 1.000 for any semester after the first semester and having a cumulative QPA of less than 2.000.
2. Earning 90 or more semester credits (senior standing) and having a cumulative QPA less than 2.000.
3. If the cumulative quality point average is less than 2.000 for three consecutive semesters.
4. The following table outlines other conditions under which a student will be subject to academic suspension:

Number of semesters with cumulative QPA less than 2.000	If quality point deficiency is as below, then suspension results
1	24 or more
2	12 or more
3	6 or more
4	3 or more
5, 6, 7, 8	1 or more

Ordinarily, a first suspension is for a period of one semester; a second suspension is for a period of two semesters. All three summer sessions are considered as one semester for purposes of suspension. Students under suspension are not permitted to register for summer classes at Slippery Rock University.

Suspension may result whenever any student incurs grade deficiencies as stipulated above at the conclusion of any semester or summer session. Students who desire to take courses at another institution while on academic suspension should see Transient Student Status in this section.

Attendance Policy
Slippery Rock University does not have a university-wide class attendance policy. Traditionally, attendance policies for individual classes have been determined by the instructor and communicated to the class at the first meeting and through the syllabus. The university believes, however, that class attendance, preparation, and participation are integral components of student success. It is unusual for a student to be successful in a class without attending, preparing, and participating regularly. Therefore, the faculty and administration strongly encourage students to attend every class session, to spend at least two hours in review and preparation for each hour in class, and to participate fully in all aspects of the class.

Attendance may be required for class meetings or field trips outside the regular schedule if such activities are listed as required in a course description in the catalog or in course syllabi. Instructors are asked to consider making allowances for absences occasioned by illness and by authorized activities for the benefit of the university. Arrangements to make up work because of class absences are the students’ responsibility.

Auditing Courses
Students desiring to audit courses (no credit awarded) must receive approval of their advisor. Normal registration procedures must be completed. The cost of auditing courses and taking courses for credit are the same. Students may not change from an audit status to a graded status (A-F and P/NC) or vice versa after the second week of the semester.

Change of Major
Forms for changing majors may be obtained in the offices of the deans, Director of Academic Records and Summer School, academic departments or to the Academic Advisement Center. Students are reminded that they must meet the major academic requirements that are in effect at the time they declare a new major.

Classification of Students
Undergraduate students are classified according to the number of semester credits completed.

Classification questions are to be directed to the Office of Academic Records and Summer School.

Continuous Registration
The following basic competency courses within the liberal studies program are subject to the university’s continuous registration policy:

• Connecting Reading and Writing
  
• College Writing I
  
• College Writing II
  
• Public Speaking
  
• Developmental Mathematics
  
• Beginning Algebra

These courses will be graded as A, B, C, or NC (no credit) the first time taken. If an “NC” is earned, students must repeat the course during their next semester of enrollment if seats are available and must continue taking the course until it is passed with a grade of “C” or better. When these basic competency courses are repeated, they will be graded as A, B, C, or F.

Once classes begin, students are not permitted to drop or withdraw from one of the basic competency courses listed above.

Course Levels
The following course numbering system is used: 100-199 are freshman level courses; 200-299 are sophomore level courses; 300-399 are junior level courses; 400-499 are senior level courses. Graduate courses are numbered 500-800. With approval of the dean, juniors and seniors having a 2.500 cumulative quality point average may enroll in 500 numbered courses for undergraduate credit. Only seniors with their dean’s permission are permitted to register for graduate credit in courses numbered 500 and above. Post-baccalaureate students may take 500 level courses for undergraduate credit, and, with the permission of the dean of their college, 500 or 600 level courses for graduate credit. 600 level courses may not be taken for undergraduate credit.

Credit by Examination
Under certain conditions it is possible for students to take credit courses by examination in a subject field. A grade of “P” or “NC” must be awarded but only passing grades will be recorded on students’ records for coursework taken through Credit by Examination. Students may take Credit by Examination only once per course. Further information is available in the offices of the deans and in the Office of Academic Records and Summer School. See “Testing for Advanced Placement” in this catalog.

Credit for Military Service
Slippery Rock University awards credit for military service and military schooling. Credit is not awarded solely for the completion of basic training or for Military Occupational Specialties (MOS).

To receive credit for military service, a student must submit a DD214 or other official military record documenting a minimum of one year of continuous active duty. Students meeting this requirement will be awarded three credits of free elective and will also have the university’s basic competency physical education/dance activity requirement (two credits) waived.

Students may receive credit for military schooling, regardless of the length of active or inactive duty, by submitting a DD214, Army/ACE Registry Transcript (AARTS), Sailor/Marine/ACE Registry Transcript (SMART) or other official military record documenting completion of military coursework.

All evaluations are based upon the recommendations found in the American Council on Education’s “Guidebook to the Evaluation of Educational Experiences in the Armed Services.”

Students should submit their DD214 and all applicable military educational records to the Director of Academic Records and Summer School, Room 107, Old Main.