The Brown & White

Registration rolls around every semester, and it can be just as unfair every single time - based on a decision that was made 12 years ago.

Some students find it inequitable that classes in the College of Business and Economics are only worth three credits, while classes in the College of Arts and Sciences are worth four credits, despite differences in the workloads. This discrepancy became the norm when the College of Arts and Sciences went to a four-credit standard under former President Peter Likins, according to Bruce Correll, registrar.

"President Likins developed a strategic planning committee that proposed four four-credit classes as a standard load rather than five three-credit courses," Correll said. "The College of Arts and Sciences ran with it believing it would give students more depth per class, but it never really stuck with the business school."

Nobody has gone back to review the differences and the credit inconsistency has become the norm, Correll said.

Allie Caldwell, '09, recently scoured through the course catalog, searching for business classes to take in the fall, and found that most were worth three credits.

"I am in the business school and do not think their classes should all only be worth three credits," Caldwell said. "In the business school I have to take four classes to get the minimum twelve hours, but in arts and sciences I would only have to take three. All the psych[ology] classes I have taken for four credits are much easier than all the business classes I have taken for three credits."

Joan DeSalvatore, associate dean of the business college, said that the workload variance is all relative.

Perception of classwork in the business school is different depending on the person.

Certain classes will require far more effort for one person than another because of a student's natural inclinations.

Some professors in the business school share this belief.

"Every course is different, and every interest is different. You could be willing to put all the work in for a two-credit course and hate the minimal work of your four-credit course," Professor J. Richard Aronson said. "We need to accept the idea it is not a perfect relationship."

Some business students like Lindsay Earle, '10, disagree.

Earle said classes do not always properly match the amount of work required with the amount of credits given.

"I have spent four-to-six hour meetings with my business group outside of the two weekly classes," Earle said. "Whereas in my English class that is worth four credits I spend, on average, one hour [doing work] outside of the class."

Earle said the work is worthwhile but believes she should be awarded proper credit for her effort.

The problem lies in how to measure this effort.

"Credits are not negotiable because it is not based on anything tangible," DeSalvatore said.

However, Lehigh does have precise calculations for determining course credit, according to section 3.1.3. of the rules and procedures on the Provost Web site.

Credit is reckoned in hours of effort per week on the part of the student. Three to four hours of student effort per week includes both in-class work and outside effort and is given one credit.

In a lecture, one hour in class involves two to three hours of outside work which corresponds to one credit hour.

A seminar, which involves significant student input, awards one credit for a class that meets one to two hours a week.

A lab consists of three hours of in-class activity for every credit hour given.

Although this is the formula determined by Lehigh, many students find that the numbers don't match up and claim their arts and sciences work isn't nearly as intensive as their business work.

Correll said the topic of three or four credits as a college norm has caused debate among the faculty, yet nobody has seriously revisited the possibility of a change.