Academic Exceptions Committee

Description

• Membership

  Position and Term Length	Name	Term Expires
  Registrar; ex-officio	Ben Trout, Chairperson	*
  Staff member from Registrar's office serves as Secretary; ex-officio	Julie Fiorini	*
  Dean of Graduate Studies; ex-officio	Carl J. Sheperis	*
  Financial Aid Office Representative	Lisa Schroeder	*
  Student Assistance Coordinator in the Dean of Students Office	Kelly Hojnacki, Student Advocate	*
  College of Business Representative** (3 years)	Ashwini Gangadharan	8/2028
  College of Education Representative** (3 years)	Roseanne Perkins	8/2026
  College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Representative** (3 years)	Lydia DeBiase	8/2028
  College of Visual & Performing Arts Representative** (3 years)	Russell Rober	8/2026
  Graduate Faculty Representative** (3 years)	Scott Tracy	8/2028
  Counseling Center Faculty Representative (2 years)	TBA	8/2026
  Student Representative	Richie Roccia	8/2026

  * Indefinite Term of Office
  ** Appointed by Committee on Committees

• Mission & Bylaws

  MISSION

  The Academic Exceptions Committee (AEC) reports to the University Senate and its purpose is to provide an appeal process for students to request a waiver of specific academic policies

  
  COMPOSITION AND TERMS OF APPOINTMENT

  1. Composition
     • One faculty representative is appointed from each of the four colleges by the Committee on Committees
     • One COC-appointed graduate faculty representative
     • An appointed member of the Counseling Center faculty
     • An SGB-appointed student representative (graduate or undergraduate)
     • Student Assistance Coordinator in the Dean of Students Office serves as Student Advocate
     • One representative from the Financial Aid Office
     • Dean of Graduate Studies (ex-officio)
     • The Registrar (ex-officio, serves as Chair)
     • Staff member from the Registrar’s office (ex-officio, serves as secretary)
  2. Terms of Appointment
     • Appointed representatives serve for a staggered three-year term
     • The Counseling Center faculty representative serves a two-year term
     • The representatives from the Registrar’s Office, the Dean of Graduate Studies
     and the representative from the Financial Aid office serve an indefinite term
  3. Election of Officers
     • No officers are elected. The Registrar serves as Chair, and the Registrar’s designee serves as Chair in the absence of the Registrar

  DUTIES

  1. Duties of AEC Members are:
     • Read and thoughtfully consider written petitions submitted by students requesting exceptions to University policy.
     • Discuss and vote on motions to approve or deny student petitions
     • Read the AEC Mission and Bylaws on an annual basis
     • Attend meetings on a regular basis
     • Inform chair if unable to attend a meeting
     • Perform duties as assigned
     • If serving as a representative of a college, provide regular feedback to appropriate constituency
  2. Duties of Chair are:
     • Remind members atthe first meeting ofthe year that bylaws are available for review on the KU website.
     • Submit any revision of the Mission and Bylaws to the University Senate for approval
     • Ensure the University Senate Office has a copy of the Mission and Bylaws
     • Call meetings on a regular basis
     • Set the agenda of petitions to be considered and distribute petitions to members prior to the meeting
     • Present an annual report to the University Senate and an interim report to that body if requested.
     • Ask for administrative expertise to attend specific meetings as needed
  3. Duties of Registrar’s Office staff member
     • Record the minutes of each meeting
     • Record the names of those attending and those not attending each meeting
     • File full minutes with the Registrar’s office and submit to the Chair the abbreviated minutes outlining the number of student petitions acted on at each meeting to be sent to the University Senate for archival purposes.

  MEETINGS

  1. The AEC will meet as needed dependent upon the number of student petitions
     filed
  2. Usually, this will be once a month during the academic semester, with at least 1-2 additional meetings necessary during the summer and winter breaks
  3. Members who miss more than two regularly scheduled meetings in any given semester may be assumed to have withdrawn from the AEC and in such case the Committee on Committees will identify an appropriate replacement

  VOTING PROCESS

  1. Each member of the AEC has one vote. This does not include ex-officio members, with one exception: The chair will only vote in the case of a tie.
  2. Any member who is unable to attend should communicate their intended votes to the chair before the meeting
  3. A member who is unable to attend may assign a proxy vote to another member of the AEC to vote on his/her behalf
  4. A simple majority of votes is required to pass a motion
  5. Any member may make a motion in favor or against a student petition
  6. Each AEC decision is non-precedent setting, but based solely on the evidence presented of each student’s particular circumstances

  AGENDA

  1. The agenda shall consist of the following:
     • Call to Order
     • Approval of Minutes
     • Announcements
     • Old Business
     • New Business
     • Adjournment
  2. The agenda and student petitions should be made available to the AEC members at least 24 hours prior to every scheduled meeting

  RULES OF ORDER

  1. Robert’s Rules of Order will govern the AEC’s procedures in all cases where
     applicable
  2. A quorum will consist of a simple majority of voting members of the full UEC. A
     quorum is needed to hold meetings and conduct business

  AMENDMENT OF BYLAWS

  1. Any member may make a motion to amend the bylaws
  2. Amended bylaws will be submitted to the Committee on Committees for approval by the full Senate
  3. Amendment of the bylaws shall require a two-thirds majority of the voting membership

  APPROVED

  University Senate – April 4, 2024

  LAST REVIEW (all dates reviewed)

  April 2015
  September 2022
  February 2024

• Meeting Times

  Meetings are scheduled as needed (see petition process below for upcoming schedule).

• Agenda & Minutes

  Minutes are confidential.

• Petition Process

  Academic Exceptions Committee Petition

  The Academic Exceptions Committee (AEC) meets once per month during the academic year.  Students are encouraged to meet with Kelly Hojnacki in Student Assistance for help in understanding the process and preparing their petition.  Ms. Hojnacki is located in 119 Stratton Administration Center and can be reached at hojnacki@kutztown.edu or 610-683-4075. Please meet with Ms. Hojnacki before submitting your petition.

  Petitions are submitted electronically through this link:  Academic Exceptions Committee Petition and must include:

  • The form, indicating your request
  • Your statement
  • Documentation to support your request
  • Support from a KU faculty or staff member
  • If you receive financial aid in grants or loans, you must meet with Financial Aid Services to ensure that the exception - if granted - will not result in financial repercussions whose severity might outweigh the positive effect of having your semester backdated

  Request:  Examples of requests include, but are not limited to:

  • An additional semester of academic probation for the (year/semester)
  • A backdated withdrawal to W grading from the (year/semester)

  Statement:  Address your statement to the "Academic Exceptions Committee" and explain:

  1. Why you wish to receive this exception;
  2. What was going on at the time that caused the need for the exception; and
  3. What you have done in the meantime or are doing now that will help you do better in the future.

  Documentation:  Must support/backup any claims you list in your statement as a reason why you are asking for an exception.

  Support:  You must get support from a KU faculty or staff member for your petition to move forward to the AEC.  Support should be emailed to Kelly Hojnacki in Student Assistance at hojnacki@kutztown.edu and include "AEC Petition Support" in the subject line. 

  Petition Deadlines:  Petitions must be submitted at least one week before the next AEC meeting.  Petitions submitted after the deadline will be deferred until the next meeting.  Petition submission deadlines for the Fall meetings:

  • September 10, 2025, for the September AEC meeting, taking place on September 17th, 2025
  • October 15, 2025, for the October AEC meeting, taking place on October 22nd, 2025
  • November 12, 2025, for the November AEC meeting, taking place on November 19th, 2025

  *An AEC appeal is not the same as a Financial Aid SAP appeal. You must appeal separately with financial aid to receive aid for the following semester, if applicable. This is extremely important.