WashU students constantly strive to achieve both in and out of the classroom. For a significant portion of the student body, this involves participating in clubs which, rather than being built around social or recreational experiences, are academic. Students join these clubs for many reasons, such as to apply concepts learned in class, engage academically outside the classroom, or to fulfill the unstated expectations of many employers.
However, upon enrolling in academic clubs, an expected activity for many students at WashU, students often find academic expectations and academic projects taking up what would be social, recreational, or studying time. Since WashU students already take more courses per semester than students at 75% of our peer institutions in the Top 20, it can be unhealthy, and even counterproductive, to expect students to put in another 5-20 hours per week beyond that.
In an effort to address this issue, the Academic Affairs Committee, one of the four policy Committees in the Student Union Senate, recently proposed a revolutionary package of legislation. The Committee’s legislation, called the Practical Credit Initiative, proposes a framework to provide students with academic credit for their endeavors in these academic extracurriculars. The Practical Credit Initiative will reward students with credit towards graduation upon electing to participate in an academic club.
As a constituent member of this Committee, I collected data for the research effort in finding clubs that should be deemed academic. We found that a group of clubs demanded a significant time commitment proportionate to, if not greater than that of actual academic classes. WashU students are already overworked and adding more responsibilities beyond the demands of classwork forces us to choose between our academics and mental health. Students who venture to involve themselves in the community through academic clubs must pay a price: the steep mental toll of more academic demands. This work ranges across disciplines and schools at WashU, including attending lectures, writing papers or articles, performing business analysis on stocks, coding, designing engineering projects, participating in consulting projects, educational activities and advocacy campaigns. The data can be abstract, so I’ll present my own experience with one of the 167 fundamentally academic clubs (36% of the 461 open to undergrads).
Personally, after a long day of classes, I report to my role as a member of TAMID Group, where each semester, I am required to participate in regular lectures on business concepts, complete a stock pitch, and complete a case competition project. Each week, this club requires multiple hours of work and a significant commitment outside of the classroom, comparable to a class both in time commitment and in the educational experience. I believe implementing the Practical Credit Initiative will, by giving students academic credit for the academic work they’re already doing, create an opportunity for a significant alleviation of student stress. Mental health benefits would be profound because students will be provided with a tangible reward for their work outside of the classroom. This system will enable students to feel proud in dedicating time to academic clubs, as now their previously unrecognized time and effort will appear in the form of credit on their transcript.
The Practical Credit Initiative proposes an oversight committee composed of the faculty, administration, and student body to collectively create a framework to determine which clubs on campus deserve to be recognized for credit. By implementing this legislation, we will improve admissions competitiveness and student retention, which will accelerate the prestige of this university by improving our national ranking. Whether you’re a student, faculty member, administrator, parent, or alum, the Practical Credit Initiative is a win for everyone.
This initiative has the opportunity to revolutionize the academic outlook at this school and improve the collective mental health of the student body. Interest among the administration suggests they appreciate our initiative’s values: student mental health and national, future-focused academic competitiveness. Ultimately, for the work we put in day in and day out at this university, we should receive the credit we have earned. We look forward to collaborating with the administration to bring this initiative to reality.
Editor’s Note: This article was edited by Alex Hyman in addition to Editor-In-Chief David Mathisson.