Student Senate hosted a forum Monday night that aimed to educate students about the College’s credit and course load system as well as to address questions and concerns about recent changes.

Dean of Studies Kathryn Stuart, Registrar Liz Clerkin, Associate Dean of the College Nick Jones and Associate Dean of the Conservatory Marci Alegant attended the discussion as panelists. They are all involved in reviewing the current credit system.

The forum provided a venue for students to ask questions about recently implemented changes in policy and for the faculty in turn to gauge student opinion on those suggestions.

The main issue addressed was the number of credit hours required to graduate. Currently, students are required to have completed 112 credit hours in order to graduate. With this system, if a student wishes to take four classes instead of five in a semester, each class must average 3.5 credit hours in order for the student to meet the requirement.

Because most of Oberlin’s classes are offered for three credit hours, the credit system may force students to take five classes a semester in order to fulfill their credit hours.

Students and faculty at the forum discussed replacing the current credit hour requirement with a requirement for students to take four courses a semester. This idea was largely rejected due to the restrictions it would put on double majors and on students’ freedom to choose their own course load.

As an alternative, students suggested that the College reduce the number of credits required for graduation.

Students also said that they found credit hours to be a misleading measure of achievement since they only account for hours in class and not necessarily for outside work.

The Pass/No Pass system grading system, the recent successor to the Credit/No Entry system, was also discussed at the forum. Before Pass/No Pass was instated three semesters ago, students had the option of taking classes Credit/No Entry, for which they would either receive the grade of “CR” (credit) for passing or “NE” (no entry) for failing grades. The “NE” was not included on the student’s transcript.

With the new Pass/No Pass system, the “No Pass,” evidence of a failing grade, appears on the student’s transcript.

Stuart suggested that the new system may encourage students to do better in school.

“For whatever combination of reasons, students who started in 2004 or 2005 [under the Pass/No Pass system] are doing better [than in previous years when the CR/NE system was utilized] but it is too soon to see what conclusions to draw from this,” she said.

The old Credit/No Entry system was popular for allowing students to select classes they were interested in without fear of doing poorly in them, so it encouraged them to take a wider selection of classes. Some graduate schools were wary of the system however, cautious of the idea that a class could simply be left off the student’s transcript. Oberlin was one of only a few schools to have the option of CR/NE.

Students made several suggestions. One suggestion was that the CR/NE system be retained for certain types of classes, like mini-courses and ExCos, which students might not take if there is the possibility of it reflecting poorly on their transcripts.Students, faculty and administrators saw the forum as an opportunity to discuss the issues.

“I didn’t look at it as somewhere that major policy decisions would be finalized,” said Student Senator and College sophomore Colin Jones.  “I thought it was more about understanding for students regarding the changes that are being thought about and a chance for faculty and administrators to understand what we are feeling. I believe that the ideas brought up by students will be considered and reflected in the process.”

Student Senator and College junior Peter Collopy agreed that while the forum may not have a direct effect, it constitutes an important aspect of the administration’s decision-making.

“I don’t think a change will be seen due to the forum,” said Collopy. “I do think that a change may occur within the next few years, and that faculty and administrators involved in making such a change will only be able to take students’ opinions and experiences into account if they’re exposed to them.”