Petitions

On occasion, students may submit special requests for individual consideration, including waivers, course substitutions and reasonable exceptions to College policy. Two different petitions are used by students to submit such requests.

College Petitions should be submitted for requests involving late drop of courses, residency rules for graduation, course substitutions, and other matters over which the College has jurisdiction. Decisions on college petitions are made by the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs in conjunction with academic advisers and departmental chairs/heads.

Students wishing to drop a course after the deadline should be aware that approval of such petitions are not routinely granted. Dropping courses after the 8-week deadline is generally discouraged unless the student has extenuating circumstances of a serious nature. Performing poorly in a course is not an extenuating circumstance justifying approval of the petition. Late drop petitions will not be considered during the last two weeks of instruction for the semester.

Council on Teacher Education Petitions are required for matters over which the Council on Teacher Education has jurisdiction. The following are examples of the types of requests that must be submitted on a Council petition: requests to be certified with less than a 2.50 grade point average; substitution or waiver of early field experience, the special and professional education requirements; and requests to student teach in the event the student has less than a 2.50 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, cumulative, content area and/or professional education grade point average and/or is on academic probation. Final decisions on Council petitions are made by the Executive Director of the Council on Teacher Education and/or the Certification Officer with input from the student’s dean and adviser. Petitions authorizing a substitution for any requirement should be kept until the degree has been completed.