Academic Advising and the Evaluation of Student Petitions

A Vehicle for Student Equity and Justice

  • Ernesto Guerrero California State University Channel Islands

Abstract

At some universities, academic advisors manage the evaluation of petitions, while at others it is the responsibility of the Registrar’s office.  For the purposes of this article, petitions are requests initiated by students for some sort of exception to a stated rule or policy.  Decisions a university makes on these types of petitions can have long-reaching implications for a student’s time to degree, GPA, and even degree completion.  As a result, those who evaluate these petitions and the processes they use to make these evaluations, play a central role in student success and retention.  Based on the literature and my own professional experience, I argue that academic advisors are the individuals best qualified to evaluate these cases, and that this contributes to institutional equity as it reduces administrative barriers for students. 

Author Biography

Ernesto Guerrero, California State University Channel Islands

Dr. Ernesto Guerrero is the Director of Academic Advising at CSU Channel Islands and an Adjunct Professor of Educational Leadership at California Lutheran University. He has over nineteen years of experience in academic advising and student success programs having previously worked and taught at UCLA. Dr. Guerrero studies student success and retention, specifically in underrepresented student groups.

Published
2019-05-16
How to Cite
Guerrero, E. (2019). Academic Advising and the Evaluation of Student Petitions: A Vehicle for Student Equity and Justice. Allies for Education, 2(2). Retrieved from https://journals.calstate.edu/afe/article/view/3295