Keith Robinder, interim dean of students, brought a new student withdrawal policy currently under review to the attention of the Student Government at Wednesday’s meeting.

This policy would standardize the withdrawal process across all six colleges. All four forms of student withdrawal from the university are addressed: standard, medical, out-of-term and university initiated. Medical withdrawal does not currently have a policy, Robinder said. The policy would not differentiate between physical and mental health for medical withdrawal.

“The university withdrawal process I’ve described is what we’ve been doing the eight years I’ve been at Iowa State University, it just is not in policy,” Robinder said.

Withdrawal removes any work done throughout that semester from a student’s permanent record. Currently, withdrawal is addressed in the catalog and separately by each college. Students fill out a “Request for Withdrawal” form, which is submitted by their college to the Office of the Registrar. How the withdrawal is handled depends on the period of the semester it is submitted.

Robinder primarily addressed university initiated withdrawal, used in medically documented cases to protect the safety of the campus as a whole.

Current procedure in the catalog states “the University may order involuntary withdrawal of a student if it is determined that the student is suffering from a mental disorder as defined by the current American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic Manual such that the disorder causes, or threatens to cause, the student to engage in behavior which poses a significant danger of causing imminent harm to the student, to others or to substantial property rights, or renders the student unable to engage in basic required activities necessary to obtain an education.”

The draft policy states “The university may order the involuntary withdrawal of a student if it is determined that the student is suffering from a medical condition that meets one or more of the following criteria:

“That’s actually a pretty high standard. Significant and substantial risk is not the fear of potential future risk,” Robinder said.

Robinder gave a potential example case, in which a student is in the hospital because they are having psychotic thoughts to harm people would be considered a medically documented, clear and substantial risk.

“We’re saying ‘let’s get that under control, we’ll withdraw you and there’s a path back to the university when that’s resolved,’” Robinder said.

Students would be evaluated at university expense, and that information would be looked at by the Dean of Students, director of Student Health and director of Student Counseling Service as the Medical Withdrawal Committee “because all university initiated withdrawals are medical,” Robinder said.

“[University initiated withdrawal] is not something that we use very often, but it is something that when it’s important, it’s incredibly important because it protects the safety of the other 36,000 students,” Robinder said. “We have to balance individual rights and responsibilities with our collective safety.”

The policy would also address assisting students’ return to campus after withdrawal.

Dozmen Lee asked about tuition refunds for students who go through the university initiated withdrawal process. Robinder said tuition refund policies are set by the Board of Regents, but the Office of the Registrar manages appeals. Decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.

The draft policy is available for review online at the Policy Library webpage. Feedback or questions on the policy can be submitted to [email protected] until April 23.