By Signe K. Skinion

A University Housing policy that began this semester allows students who are suspended for low academic scores to remain living on campus while taking classes at John A. Logan.

Edward L. Jones, University Housing director, said the policy is to help students who want to return to SIUC by alleviating the problems of finding new housing mid-year.

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These are SIU students who have had academic difficulty but are taking Logan (a local community college) classes to get reinstated here, Jones said. It’s more disruptive to go home and have to start all over again. This way, students aren’t as disrupted and can concentrate on raising their grades and getting readmitted.

According to University policy, a student will be academically suspended if they have two consecutive semesters where their grade point average is below a 2.0.

Jones said the program is on a semester-by-semester basis, giving the students a chance to work out their academic problems while still retaining most of the privileges of being an SIUC student.

These students have already established themselves as SIU students, Jones said. Because they have experienced academic difficulty does not mean they should be thrown off campus.

We are trying to give them a chance by helping them feel like they are still a part of the University, so they try harder in their Logan classes so they can return.

Larry Chapman, dean of students at John A. Logan College, said the policy has not been formalized through his department, but he feels the students will benefit greatly from it.

There have been discussions going on for the past year, year-and-a-half, but as far as I know, we have never formally signed anything to make this into a policy, Chapman said. I do believe this is in the best interest of the students. I know in the past a lot of students have had problems finding a place to live after discovering they were suspended.

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Beth A. Scally, University Housing coordinator of Marketing and Public Information, said the students will benefit from this opportunity by staying on campus.

These are good students who had a rough semester, Scally said. I think this is a great program because they are still a part of the campus.

Steve Kirk, assistant director of Residence Life, said students who take advantage off this policy experience less of the stress most tend to feel from the academic suspension.

These students don’t have to scramble to find a new place to live once they discover they are not returning to SIU classes, Kirk said. The main advantage is you don’t have to find a place to live and have to start dealing with a lot of the arrangements like telephones and utilities. Also, you’re not leaving all your friends behind, so you still have your support.

Jones said there are very few students who are taking advantage of this policy, and he does not expect the numbers to grow because there are very few students who are put on academic suspension.

There are about six or seven students who have taken advantage of the opportunity, Jones said. There are also some students who enrolled in SIU full time but are taking one or two classes at Logan that are living on campus. We’re dealing with a relatively small number of students.