First-Year Experience: Non-compliance

Policy

As part of Duke’s First-Year Experience, all first-year students are required to complete the three courses in their Constellation or FOCUS cluster, including Writing 120, within their first two semesters of enrollment. These are a vital part of the curriculum and a graduation requirement.

Students who fail to enroll in, withdraw from, or receive a final grade of F or U grade in any of the three First-Year Experience courses will be placed on First-Year Experience Non-compliance status for up to two semesters.

The First-Year Experience Non-compliance is both a "wake-up" call and an opportunity to fulfill your first-year experience requirement, which is a graduation requirement.

Students placed on First-Year Experience Non-compliance will be administratively enrolled in First-Year Experience courses in the subsequent semester. During their time on First-Year Experience Non-compliance, students will be subject to a registration hold and will be ineligible to graduate until compliance is met and/or waived.

First-Year Experience Non-compliance status is not indicated on the student’s official transcript.

Process

Students placed on First-Year Experience Non-compliance will be contacted by the Director of First-Year Experience to develop a plan for fulfilling the requirement.

Students must:

• Meet with the Director of First-Year Experience within the following timeframes (based on reason for non-compliance):
  • Students who fail to enroll in a First-Year Experience course will be put on Non-compliance immediately after the drop-add deadline for the semester they fail to enroll in the course. The meeting must take place after shopping carts open and before the student’s registration window for the following semester.
  • Students who withdraw from a First-Year Experience course will be put on Non-compliance for the following semester. The meeting must take place no later than the last day of classes of the semester they withdraw.
  • Students who fail a First-Year Experience course will be put on Non-compliance for the following semester. The meeting must take place no later than the third day of classes of the Non-compliance semester.
• Acknowledge the terms of your First-Year Experience Non-compliance in writing by completing and signing a "First-Year Experience Non-compliance Agreement" form. The Director of First-Year Experience will give you the form when you meet.
• Enroll in four and only four full credit (1.0 credit) courses for the semester of Non-compliance (i.e., fall, spring, or summer terms I and II), with approval of the Director of First-Year Experience.

Students are expected to clear their Non-compliance status within one semester. Clearing this status requires remaining enrolled in the First-Year Experience course(s) they are missing and have been administratively enrolled in and completing the course(s) with a grade of C- or higher. Failure to meet the terms of the agreement or to resolve the Non-compliance may result in academic dismissal for two semesters.

Students may petition for exception to this policy due to documented medical, personal, or disability related circumstance. Petitions must be submitted in writing to the Director of First-Year Experience within 7 days of notification.

At the end of the Non-compliance semester, if you fail to clear Non-compliance by fulfilling your First-Year Experience, you will be placed on First-Year Experience Non-compliance again for the following semester. If you fail to clear Non-compliance a second time, you will be dismissed from Duke for two semesters (Fall and Spring). You cannot graduate without clearing First-Year Experience Non-compliance.

If you are placed on First-Year Experience Non-compliance, we strongly encourage you to review all aspects of your academic and social life and institute changes wherever appropriate so that you may be successful here. To this end, we urge you to confer with your Quad Advisor, your academic dean, instructor, a counselor at CAPS, or with a member of the staff of the Academic Resource Center, as appropriate, early in the semester of Non-compliance.

Withdrawal and underload for medical and personal reasons

Students who withdraw form a semester due to a documented medical reason will not be placed on Non-compliance during that semester. Their First-Year completion plan may be adjusted as follows:

• Fall Withdrawal, Spring Return:
  • Constellations: Constellations: Complete the First-Year Experience requirement by taking Writing 120 course and one non-Writing 120 course in Constellation in the spring semester of the first year.
  • FOCUS: Complete the First-Year Experience requirement by joining a Constellation in the spring semester of the first year and complete Writing 120 course and one non-Writing 120 course in Constellation.
• Spring Withdrawal:
  • Constellations: If Writing 120 and one non-Writing 120 course were completed in the fall semester, the student will be deemed to have completed the First-Year Experience.
    • If only a non- Writing 120 course was completed in the fall semester, the student must complete Writing 120 course in the sophomore year.
  • FOCUS: Must complete Writing 120 course in the sophomore year.
• Full-Year Withdrawal: Students will be assigned to a Constellation or FOCUS upon return to Duke and start the first-year experience as a new first-year student.