A student may withdraw from a class, or from the University, after the withdrawal period until the last day of classes* for the academic term. This requires the approval of the dean of the student’s college, based on a petition certifying urgent non-academic reasons, which may include but are not limited to:
- Illness or injury of the student.
- Serious personal or family problems.
- Serious financial difficulties.
- Having excused absences for the dates and times associated with more than one-fifth of the required interactions* in a course.
* The “last day of classes” refers to the date (published on the Office of the University Registrar’s website), not the last day that an individual class met.
* “Required interactions” are interactions that, if not completed at or by their specified date and time, would penalize a student in a course. Interactions may include, but are not limited to, student engagement with other students (e.g., participating in an in-class or online discussion), engagement with the instructor (e.g., attending class) or engagement with an instructor’s proxy (e.g., attending a guest lecture or uploading a file to the course management system).
Before acting on such a petition, the respective dean will consult with the Instructor of Record of the class. The dean may not delegate the authority to approve or deny a petition to withdraw to the Office of the University Registrar or to any other agency external to their college. If such a petition is approved by the dean of the student's college, the dean shall inform in writing the Instructor of Record of their action. The student shall be assigned a grade of “W.”