Editor’s Note: This is a public Student Union document which has been reproduced to increase the document’s accessibility for the student body and to ensure the availability of a public record in service of the Danforth Dispatch’s goal of facilitating improvements to the community.
Resolution Advocating For The Implementation Of A Practical Credit Academic System: Main Component of Practical Credit Initiative
Introduced by Chair of Academic Affairs David Mathisson and Cosponsoring Senators Ethan Glazer, Pat Wang, Hussein Amuri, Saketh Bhupathiraju, and Jojo Spio
WHEREAS, Washington University students are overworked, taking more classes per semester than all but three of our peer institutions standardize, even though Washington University students spend comparable amounts of in-class time per class, have comparable amounts of assessments and major assignments per class, have comparable amounts of minor assignments per class, and are assigned readings of comparable lengths, suggesting Washington University students are doing approximately 25% more academic work than they would do at 75% of our peer institutions ranked in the Top 20, and
WHEREAS, academic burdens are the most common source of stress reported among Washington University students, and
WHEREAS, a policy plan able to remedy this standardized overworking could lead to significant student stress reduction, producing improvements in mental health outcomes, and
WHEREAS, Washington University students participate at high rates in extracurricular activities that lack plausible recreational or social value, meaning these extracurriculars, in effect, are academic projects, often conducted with equal or greater rigor than graded academic work, but which goes ignored in the academic system, and
WHEREAS, the expectation of academic work beyond the already disproportionate workload of a 5-course semester has a deleterious effect on both mental health and academic performance, and
WHEREAS, examples of academic work done during these academic extracurriculars, research on the number of extracurriculars which are fundamentally academic, research on hotly desired career traits learned in these “extracurriculars” but not the classroom, significant discrepancies in the credit policies of different non-classroom activities at Washington University, and other relevant information are presented in detail in the accompanying Report, and
WHEREAS, policies at Washington University actively enable and sustain this interconnected set of problems, and
WHEREAS, these institutional barriers to student mental health, academic performance, and career success are holding our University back, and
WHEREAS, the Practical Credit System, in the attached Proposal, is an innovative solution to modernize our academic system which will give our students a competitive advantage over those at our peer institutions, and
WHEREAS, a full implementation of this solution could propel Washington University into becoming, by ranking, one of the top 10 universities in the nation, therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the University administration should convene a regularly meeting Committee, no later than February 15th, 2023, equally divided between representatives from SU Senate, faculty, and administration, to determine how to implement the Practical Credit Proposal, and
RESOLVED, that the University should begin implementation of the Practical Credit system as detailed in the accompanying Proposal according to the recommendations of the aforementioned Committee no later than the 2024-2025 academic year, and sooner if feasible, and therefore be it
RESOLVED, that Student Union should consider revising SU restrictions impacting academic credit eligibility for academic extracurriculars upon the implementation of the Practical Credit system.
Practical Credit Report:
Problem
WashU students are overworked, taking more classes per semester than their peer institutions standardize (other than Johns Hopkins, Rice, and Caltech). WashU students spend comparable amounts of in-class time per class, have comparable amounts of assessments and major assignments per class, have comparable amounts of minor assignments per class, and are assigned readings of comparable lengths. This evidence suggests WashU students are doing approximately 25% more academic work than they would do at 75% of our peer institutions ranked in the Top 20.
Academic Affairs College Class #
WashU students participate at high rates in extracurricular activities that lack plausible recreational or social value. These extracurriculars, in effect, are academic projects, often conducted with equal or greater rigor than graded academic work, but which goes ignored in the academic system. Here are some examples of “extracurricular” work which is, in reality, academic:
- Attending lectures and discussions
- Writing policy papers
- Pitching stocks
- Writing articles
- Coding
- Designing and building engineering projects
- Producing mock litigation and consulting projects
- Completing actual consulting projects
- Leading educational activities
- Managing advocacy campaigns.
There are 167 extracurriculars (36% of the 461 potential Arts & Sciences extracurriculars) which are fundamentally academic and which have potential workloads of at least three hours weekly– enough to earn academic credit if a student was to call it an internship. These academic extracurriculars, often disconnected from vital resources, are not reaching their full potential, while students who choose to get involved do extra academic work for little benefit.
“Extracurriculars” that are actually academic
This means, in effect, that students are typically spending 5-20 hours per week on academic activities beyond those prescribed by their classes. A few students even spend over 40 hours a week on these activities, while still being expected to maintain a full courseload. This, plus the disproportionate workload of a 5-course semester, has a deleterious effect on both mental health and academic performance.
Employers, meanwhile, are looking for a 21st-century skill set in-class academic work consistently fails to provide. Examples of desired skills include group work (a regular and accepted component of many clubs but despised when implemented in the classroom as group projects), content writing, financial management, project management, social media management, graphic design, research, teaching, and interpersonal skills.
Our disproportionately intense academic programs, taken by themselves, do not appear to have given WashU students a competitive advantage over students from peer institutions when applying for jobs. Employers prefer relevant experience — such as internships — over solely in-class participation. Online job postings, the main form of internship support provided by the Career Center, are inexclusive to WashU, and can be hypercompetitive, often drawing in hundreds of applications for one spot. Meanwhile, the Career Center ignores high-quality local opportunities students would benefit from, such as internships with local community partners, undergraduate teaching assistantships, undergraduate research opportunities, and opportunities within student organizations.
This assessment should make clear that the state of affairs at WashU is highly problematic. Excessive academic expectations, poor career support, and extracurriculars disconnected from relevant resources and systems have led to a strained system unable to meet student needs. This has real-world consequences, harming student academic performance, career outcomes, and mental health.
Policies at WashU enable and sustain this interconnected set of problems. The Career Center, which presents students with time-intensive “do-it-yourself” advice on securing opportunities, has never been required or even asked to include local or on-campus opportunities in its mission, and so almost categorically excludes them. (The exclusion of local opportunities is another example of Washington University being located in St. Louis but not of St. Louis). In some academic departments, undergraduate teaching assistantships and research opportunities operate somewhat akin to a patronage system, severely lacking in access and transparency. Academic departments have never considered it their mission to integrate academic student groups into their educational sphere and thus often hold them at arm’s length, providing the bare minimum in support for those groups that do have departmental support to survive.
Most surprisingly, there are severe and egregious discrepancies in what we do and do not offer credit, and how. Music, dance, and Sumers Rec Center classes, among other things, are eligible for course credit, as is participation in a varsity sport. Beyond the overall 24-credit limitation on Pass/Fail classes counted towards graduation, there are no restrictions on how many of these courses a student may receive credit for. Yet there are (minor) restrictions on study abroad credit, research credit, and teaching assistant credit. There are also major restrictions in place creating obstacles for students seeking to complete internships during the academic year, when they are many times less competitive. Students may only receive internship credit for a maximum of two full courses — even though they could count up to eight full courses at Sumers Rec Center towards graduation. Institutional barriers like these disincentivize meaningful learning outside the classroom.
These institutional barriers to student mental health, academic performance, and career success are holding our University back. We believe an innovative solution to modernize our academic system will give our students a competitive advantage over those at our peer institutions. A full implementation of this solution could propel WashU into becoming, by ranking, one of the top 10 universities in the nation.
Practical Credit Proposal
Note: The point of convening a Committee is that, for a lengthy, multifaceted set of reasons, implementation will most likely not look exactly like this. On that basis, broad concepts are more important at this time than specific details. PASSING THIS RESOLUTION DOES NOT REQUIRE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ANY INDIVIDUAL ASPECT OF THE PROPOSAL. The whole point of the Committee is to figure out exactly how this can work at WashU.
Solution: Practical Credit
- Create a new category of courses: Practical Credit
- Practical Credit constitutes research and TA credit, plus internships and extracurricular activities classified as academic
- Practical Credit may be either Pass/Fail or graded, depending on the preferences of individual students and faculty for each course
- Practical Credit can be applied towards graduation and/or majors, but cannot replace specific course requirements without departmental approval, and the maximum of 24 Pass/Fail credits towards graduation will remain in place
- Two subcategories of Practical Credit: Traditional Practical Credits (research and TA credit) and Work Experience Credits (credit for internships and extracurricular activities classified as academic)
- No more than two full courses of Work Experience Credits may be taken per semester and students must take at least one class that isn’t Practical Credit per semester
- Extracurricular and internship credit will be structured the same way as internship credit is currently structured: every three weekly hours is one credit, so nine weekly hours is one full course and 18 weekly hours is two full courses
- Students will log their own hours, which must be approved by an advisor
- Students will be required to earn at least four courses of Practical Credit to graduate, but may request exceptions in their senior year
Note: There is precedent for a much smaller version of this program, in which ¼ of a course per semester was allocated for campus journalism, regardless of the amount of time contributed beyond a minimum requirement.
Solution: Academic-Extracurricular Collaboration
- Extracurriculars designated as academic will have an advisor in the department who will meet with that organization’s leadership at least once per month
- This advisor will ensure the group is completing substantive academic activities and provide support
- For the same purpose, the organization’s leadership will meet with less regularity with the Chair of their department and the department’s administrative assistant, if it has one
- Academic departments will list the designated student organizations with other courses for students to enroll in
- Academic departments will get information to students about relevant extracurricular activities
- Academic departments will transparently post information about TA and Research Assistant opportunities in an area accessible to either all students or all majors
Solution: Career Center Reorientation
(NOTE: Unless the corresponding section of the Resolution is passed pertaining to the Career Center, this section is not required to be considered when the Committee in the Resolution is convened)
- The Career Center should focus on sharing Practical Credit-eligible opportunities on campus with students– helping them find student organizations they fit into and connecting them to opportunities on campus which will help them secure competitive internships later on
- This means focusing on TAing, Research Assistantships, internships accessible from WashU’s campus, and student group participation
- The Career Center should collaborate with academic departments to help students find Practical Credit-eligible opportunities
- The Career Center should transparently inform underclassmen that A) they are at a significant disadvantage to upperclassmen regardless of merit, and that B) most freshmen will get categorically auto-rejected unless they have a connection
- The Career Center should provide clear, transparent information about the level of competitiveness of highly competitive opportunities which are already publicly posted, and, while continuing to inform interested students of where these opportunities can be found, prioritize opportunities outside of St. Louis where a WashU alum, family member, or faculty member can influence hiring decisions
Implementation
- A student group may file for academic classification by A) writing out an explanation of the educational value of the group and establishing that recreational and social components do not make up a significant percentage of time spent being involved with that group, B) getting an advisor in a relevant academic department to sign off on it, and C) bringing a signed statement from that advisor to the Department Chair and the Registrar
- Student groups are required to be reviewed by the advisor every other year to remain credit-eligible. The advisor must certify that the group’s work adheres to its mission, that substantive educational activities are occurring, and that the time commitment supports the numbers of students receiving credit
- Students must participate at least three hours weekly to be eligible for credit; a student writing a monthly WUPR article would not make the cut, but a student writing more regularly would, for example.