If Chancellor Charlie Nelms' proposal for a minimum GPA of 2.0 were in effect last year, half the freshman class would be gone.
According to Jerome Goodwin, University registrar, of the 1,358 first-time freshmen who enrolled last year, almost half — 630 in all — would have been affected by the policy.
He also said that of the 1,388 sophomores, 259 would have been affected.
In Nelms' State of the University Address at the 2010 fall convocation, he proposed that students be required to maintain a 2.0 GPA to proceed from their first to their last semester.
"I'm calling for higher expectations because the research concerning expectations is clear — there is a high correlation between expectations and results," said Nelms.
"The current policy does not set expectations high enough to achieve our targets of 80 percent first-to-second-year retention and a graduation rate of 53 percent by 2012."
The process by which the 2.0 proposal will become policy is still in the works.
"I have asked the Provost to work with the deans and the faculty senate to consider my proposal, so we can develop a plan for implementing these new expectations," said Nelms.
Compared to other schools, NCCU has a long way to go.
According to College Board, the United States College Entrance Examination Board, 80 percent of UNC-Chapel Hill students are in the top 10th percentile of their high school graduating class.
At NCCU, just 5 percent of incoming freshmen students are in the top 10th of their high school graduating class.
Daniel Watkins, a mass communication sophomore, had a GPA of 1.3 his freshman year and worked hard to build it up to approximately a 2.0 his sophomore year.
"His proposal is a good thing because not everybody is going to graduate with a 4.0, but this will at least encourage people to graduate in four years," said Watkins.
Business senior Alphonso McEntire also agrees with the proposal, but says that there must be extra steps taken to support students, such as a mentoring program.
McEntire said that "life issues" often interfere with academics.
"You would be surprised the stories that some students have about what life throws at them ... it's unreal," he said.
History instructor Bendu Cooper also supports the Nelms proposal.
"He has outlined a plan for us to fly above a storm with high expectations that will lift us up."
According to Cooper the University must set and maintain high expectations.
"NCCU is saying that students are bigger than that, nobler than that, and higher than that — failure is not an option."
Cooper said the main reason students are content with GPAs below 2.0 is because expectations are not set high enough.
"We are at another critical point in human history where mediocrity can, in nowise, be acceptable," said Cooper.
Students, she said, must assume the responsibility to attend classes, to study and to learn.
Debra Parker, professor of human sciences, agreed.
Parker said it's important for the school as a whole to step up.
"A degree is no better than the school you attend," she said.
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