Students pursuing a double major, such as English and psychology senior Mayanin Rosa, can now follow a new academic policy the university established after concerns were brought to UTRGV officials.
When Rosa began pursuing a double major at UTRGV in Fall 2016, she received information that made the process confusing for her. She told The Rider she hopes the new policy addresses and resolves the issues effectively.
“I would question what [is UTRGV administration] doing to help everyone pursuing [a double major], how are they making this information available and clear for everyone so it doesn’t cause any more problems?” Rosa said.
The new academic policy, which was approved May 2, states that students who choose to pursue a double major must indicate one of them as a “primary” major.
Students will receive a degree associated with that major and their diploma will list both majors, according to documents obtained by The Rider.
“A student who indicates that his or her primary major is Biology who elects to also complete a second major in Art will receive a single diploma listing a B.S. in Biology with a second major in Art,” the policy states.
In an interview earlier today, Student Success Vice President Kristin Croyle told The Rider UTRGV nor its legacy institutions, UT Pan American and UT Brownsville, had any type of policy in place when pursuing a double major, only a practice that was regularly followed.
“A student brought to our attention that our regular practice wasn’t being completely applied and it kind of brought to our attention that we needed a more firm policy in writing so there wasn’t any kind of room for interpretation,” Croyle said.
The concern showed UTRGV officials that since there was room for interpretation on the practice when pursuing a double major, more students may be impacted, which prompted the university to establish the new policy as soon as possible, the Student Success vice president said.
Asked what response UTRGV had regarding the complaints, Croyle replied: “It is always the intention to provide absolutely clear advice and whenever a student brings forward something when they say, ‘I’m getting conflicting information from these two different sources,’ we try and resolve it in a way that fixes the problem not just for that student, but also for anyone else that may also be in that situation.”
The Student Success vice president told The Rider she appreciates students bringing concerns forward so the university can address and resolve the issues.
Currently, only 40 students have declared they are pursuing a double major at UTRGV.
Croyle said the records of students pursuing a double major who are being evaluated for this weekend’s graduation ceremonies are being taken care of.
“You only make a policy when it’s something that needs it,” she said. “When we found that this was an area of confusion, we thought, ‘OK. Even though we didn’t have a policy in the past, clearly it needs it, so let’s get it in place.’”
To view a copy of the memorandum of the new academic policy on double majors, click here.
