By Molly Ashline, Staff Writer

The UNC-Greensboro Registrar’s Office listed 3,872 dean’s list students, but that number may change in coming semesters.

On March 4, UNCG’s Faculty Senate passed a resolution to include more criteria for dean and chancellor’s list eligibility. Changes to the criteria focused on clarifying that students need to be in good academic standing to qualify for the lists.

Previously, some students could be listed who met the grade point average (GPA) and credit requirements, even if they were on academic probation from work in previous semesters.

While this clarification seemed reasonable to most faculty senators (the resolution passed with only three dissenting votes), others found the changes in wording unsettling.

Dr. Arielle Kuperberg of UNCG’s sociology department commented to The Carolinian on her distaste for the new standards.

“My position is that dean’s list is an award based on your performance that semester, not your overall performance, and we should not penalize students who are working to redeem themselves for their past mistakes, if they have otherwise fulfilled the requirements,” said Kuperberg.

Kuperberg went on to say that faculty senators who voted to approve the resolution did not want students who could be dismissed from UNCG for academic reasons to appear on a respected university list.

However, Kuperberg argued during the meeting that this change could punish hard work.

“If anything, we should be rewarding students who have managed to turn around their grades so dramatically that they went from academic probation to qualifying for deans list,” she said.

Kuperberg said she understands that the faculty senators did not want to reward students who fail out of university by letting them write “dean’s list” on their resume, but she believes that students who worked their way back from failing should be rewarded for their efforts by giving that future accreditation.

Another argument for passing the resolution is that it would not affect many students. Kuperberg estimates that it would only impact 10 or 11 students.

That number was not high enough for most of the faculty senators to reconsider their positions, but Kuperberg sees those numbers as individual students.

“That’s 11 people who can’t put dean’s list on their resume now, who used to be able to.  That’s 11 people a year who could have had an advantage on the job market that they won’t have now,” said Kuperberg.

Despite her vehement objections, the resolution to clarify dean and chancellor’s list eligibility was passed sweepingly, and the new standards will be listed on the Registrar’s Office website.