The School of Nursing & Health Studies approved part-time status for the spring semester Thursday for all 26 students who applied for it, two weeks after denying that request to the majority of applicants.
“After careful review of those petitions, some were granted, and some were not,” NHS Assistant Dean for Enrollment Management Marianne Lyons wrote in an email to The Hoya on Nov. 13. “We carefully evaluate those requests and typically grant them for compelling reasons, such as a medical situation, family issues and a desire to perform, in keeping with Georgetown’s Catholic, Jesuit values, community service.”
Students who were initially denied part-time status said that administrators originally portrayed the petition process as less rigorous than they did after the denial.
“They gave us a piece of paper, and what I was told when they gave us the petition was, ‘Don’t worry, this is just a technicality, we rarely reject people,’ so I filled out the petition and turned it in on the day it was due, then come to find out on Monday night that I got an email that my petition had been denied,” Claire Murphy (NHS ’14) said last week.
Dean of the NHS Martin Iguchi reversed the school’s earlier decision Thursday.
“We have received feedback from faculty, staff and students about our part-time petition procedures. Given that feedback, I decided to grant all of their requests for part-time status,” Iguchi wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We ultimately felt that this was the fair approach for our student body given that some had expressed confusion over our policy.”
Amy Spohr (NHS ’14) was disappointed in the failure of communication between students and administrators.
“I was very frustrated with the administration because it seemed like there was this crazy miscommunication,” Spohr said. “We were all told by our advisor that they don’t deny anybody, and then we got an email from someone else saying we were all denied, so that just seemed really mishandled, and very unprofessional, in a way, to be told something and then receive the complete opposite information.”
When students denied part-time status initially met with administrators and faculty to voice their concerns, they were informed that part-time status was granted only due to health or family issues, according to Lyons. Despite these claims, some NHS students expressed frustration over the seemingly arbitrary nature of the process.
“They made it clear that only if you had a health issue or a serious family issue would you be granted it, except, our major is not that big, and we all talk, and I knew at least five people off the top of my head who gave the same reason that I did, but were granted it, so there was really no rhyme or reason,” Meredith Horton (NHS ’14) said.
Now that all 26 part-time status requests have been granted, students who planned research, internships and finances around receiving part-time status in the coming semester expressed relief.
“It actually is a huge thing for all of us, because it’s the money, it’s the time, it’s other things that we wanted to do,” Murphy said. “I think everybody is happy to have that now.”
In the future, NHS administrators hope to establish a clear policy for granting part-time student petitions. Potential policy includes communicating standards for part-time status approval and the possible creation of a fifth-year master’s option to better engage seniors.
Seniors in the College, who have completed a minimum of 60 credits on Main Campus, are eligible for part time status. The College Undergraduate Bulletin does not specify any additional requirements.
“We ultimately felt that this was the fair approach for our student body given that some had expressed confusion over our policy. Going forward, we will be revisiting this policy and adding clarity around it to avoid this confusion,” Dean of the NHS Martin Iguchi wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We are having preliminary conversations about this possibility, and speaking with colleagues across campus to try to develop a uniformity around how we all handle part-time petitions.”
Although students expressed frustration and anger toward the NHS throughout the petition process, they are grateful for the acceptance of all part-time petitions.
“I love my major, and I love the NHS, like every second of it, so for my experience with them to end on such a bad note was really disheartening for me, but now that it seems like the faculty even fought for us, and our voices were heard, it’s definitely raised my opinion,” Spohr said. “I hope that I’ll graduate with the same sort of passion with the NHS that I started with.”