The University may utilize a more student-friendly class withdrawal policy in fall 2011.

The Undergraduate Council unanimously approved the policy’s proposal after some final revisions at its Wednesday meeting.

If implemented, the policy would extend the class withdrawal deadline by two weeks, from week 10 to week 12. After week 12, a student will then receive a “withdrawn failing” (WF) grade in the class.

This would allow students more time to work with advisers and instructors to improve their grades after week 10 midterms are processed, said Tim Messer-Kruse, Undergraduate Council chair.

It would also create consistency in how instructors award grades, he said, because currently instructors can choose to assign a WF at any time if they “determine a student is failing at the time of withdrawal.”

“There was quite a bit of discussion about this because the council doesn’t take any change in these policies lightly,” Messer-Kruse said. “But a majority of council members saw the benefits.”

Graduate Council will review the proposal at its March 17 meeting in Union 308 at 2:30 p.m. If approved, Faculty Senate will then review the policy and determine if it will be implemented next fall.

“My expectation is that I can’t see any big objections now that the bigger policy has been approved,” Messer-Kruse said. “I hope this gives advisers and faculty members a better window of time to help students get back on track in their courses.”

Sophomore Emily Malanowski said she supports the revision because it will give students more time to make educated decisions.

“Sometimes a class seems impossible at the beginning of the semester, but once several weeks pass — in this case, 12 — then you realize it wasn’t as impossible as you thought,” she said.

Malanowski withdrew from an Asian American studies class last year when she realized she wouldn’t have the time needed for reading and assignments because of her busy schedule.

If a new policy was in place, Malanowski said she wouldn’t have been as worried throughout the experience.

“I think that this process would have gotten messy if my professor wasn’t so understanding about me needing to withdraw,” she said. “Thankfully I realized that I couldn’t handle the class before the deadline or that would have been really hard. It would have been nice to have a few more weeks to decide though.”

Dermot Forde, director of Advising Services, said the Senior Advising Council that recommended the proposal discussed revising the policy for a few months because it “can really hurt students academically.”

“I’ve had issues with this policy for a long time,” he said. “Right now, if you fail one assignment after week two and then withdraw, an instructor can choose to give you a W or a WF. We felt the time to get a WF shouldn’t come into play that early in the semester.”

Although students can still receive a WF if they stop attending class, Forde said the policy revision will help dedicated students “be proactive and better understand the process.”

“My goal with every student when they start as a freshman is to stay for four years and graduate,” he said. “This is more student-friendly, but still maintains the integrity of the old policy.”