CU students punished for time helping with Katrina

Brian Newsome, Associated Press

Saturday, September 2, 2006

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A year ago, Jessica Cramer was pulled away from class at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs to assist victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

When she returned from New Orleans more than two weeks later, a couple of instructors took an unsympathetic view of her departure, she said, even though she went as a member of the Colorado Air National Guard. Her grade in communications dropped from an A to a B, due to a combination of poor attendance and difficulty making up a test.

Other deployed students, she said, were not allowed to make up science labs, given failing grades and forced to drop classes.

In extreme cases, the bad grades or uncompleted classes meant repayment of financial aid and the loss of GI Bill assistance.

Now the co-executive of UCCS student government, who is a staff sergeant with the Colorado Air National Guard, is spearheading a petition drive to create a policy to protect military students from academic or financial penalties when they are deployed.

Some professors, students say, are accommodating. Others, though, are less forgiving. Cramer was allowed to make up science labs, for example, when peers who were deployed were not, she said.

Vice Chancellor Jim Henderson, who oversees student affairs, confirmed there's no official policy governing the treatment of short-term military deployments. Still, each year he e-mails professors urging them to accommodate students called to military duty.

UCCS is establishing an office this fall to handle issues for active military, veterans and family members, and he said there is an appeals process for all students to object to unfair treatment.

Cramer and others say more is needed. The students hope a show of signatures will persuade UCCS and CU system officials to draft a policy stating the position on the fair treatment of students serving in the military. They also want an enforceable procedure for recourse if military students think they've been wronged by instructors.

Dawn Cordova's grade in Spanish dropped from an A to a B based solely on her absences for her mandatory two-week training assignment in South Korea, she said.

Her husband, who was called up for 30 days during last years hurricanes, missed the deadline to drop classes without losing tuition. When he returned to Colorado Springs without a classload or a job, she said, he was tapped to serve in Iraq.

The appeals process seemed ineffective in Cramer's case, she said, because there was no basis in policy for a dean or department chair to overturn a professors decision regarding absences or makeup work.

Student government leaders at CUs Boulder and Denver campuses are not collecting signatures, but they hope to pursue the issue with CU regents and President Hank Brown.

The student group at UCCS had collected 750 signatures as of Wednesday and is aiming for at least 3,000 by the end of September.

Henderson sympathizes with the students cause. About 500 students are active duty military. The campus recently allocated $65,000 to open a new office for students in the military, veterans and relatives.

One of the jobs of the new office will be to notify professors of pending deployments and work with them in advance, Henderson said. It will also act as a clearinghouse for students who have questions relating to financial aid or academic standings when they are called up.

Each year Henderson sends out an e-mail to staff members reminding them to work with students who must fulfill military duties. It's up to the professors, however, to decide what that entails.

In some cases, he said, professors may think some makeup work can't be effectively replicated, such as a group presentation.

Cramer and Cordova, both seniors with their eyes set on medical school, say they are not out to impede on academic freedoms of instructors, and they have purposely kept their petition general. But to receive a lower grade for fulfilling a military obligation isn't fair.

"There should be options here," Cramer said. "It shouldn't be, If you go, you fail. "