Students at the University of Idaho can now change their major using an online form in VandalWeb, replacing the physical form a student would take to their adviser or college administrator for approval.
The process varies depending on what exactly the student is trying to accomplish — add, drop or change —but all three have one thing in common: the student is no longer required to stop by the office of someone who might have a conversation with them about why they are making that decision.
In February, Associate Registrar Dwaine Hubbard presented a demo of the page to Faculty Senate, where multiple senators raised issue with the circumventing of advisers.
“We raised some concerns to the registrar that students would change their major too easily,” said Faculty Senate Chair Patrick Hrdlicka. “They moved ahead despite the concerns that were raised.”
Hrdlicka said dismissal of the senate’s opinions is worrying.
Patrick Hrdlicka | University of Idaho
“Some of us are concerned that with attempts to raise retention, you want to have more contact with advisers than less,” Hrdlicka said. “They essentially went ahead and implemented the new process despite our reservations. Our position is, ‘Well, we’ll see if it becomes a problem.’”
The VandalWeb tool does, however, include a statement at the top reading, “Students are encouraged to meet with their adviser before submitting any changes.”
Hubbard said the Office of the Registrar did make one change to the system by request of members of ASUI: dropping a major for a student who has more than one is no longer instantaneous, allowing a moment to reconsider or fix a mistake.
“I had mentioned the drop process takes a few minutes,” Hubbard said. “I showed that to ASUI and they asked we extend that.”
Currently, dropping one of multiple majors takes 30 minutes to go into effect. Adding or changing majors requires the college to approve the addition. Hubbard said the person who handles this varies by college.
“When a student is adding a major, the college has to add an adviser for them,” Hubbard said. “When the student receives an email telling them their approval has gone through, there will be a bit that tells them what adviser has been assigned to them.”
Nishant Mohan can be reached at [email protected]