The widescale reduction in the number of Advanced Placement credits transferrable to Northwestern may not be over yet.

Even after Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences faculty voted to decrease the number of AP credits that would count as distribution requirements from six courses to two, there still is one proposal left on the table that would decrease the number of AP credits that count toward graduation from 12 to four.

A vote on the tabled proposal this quarter is highly unlikely, said Weinberg Assistant Dean Mary Finn. Introduced to the Weinberg faculty last spring quarter, the proposal, which tries to reduce the number of AP credits that count for graduation, is held as too tentative for consideration.

“The dean is back at the drawing board,” Finn said. “I can’t predict what will happen, but we ran into some faculty opposition.”

Psychology Associate Prof. David Uttal said he was concerned with the initial proposal. He said the plan is not based on enough research and only studied the actions of other peer universities.

When Weinberg faculty passed the proposal to reduce the amount of AP credits that count toward distribution requirements in September, Uttal spoke out against the proposal, claiming it did not have enough statistical support and evidence that taking away AP credits is beneficial.

“I think the status quo has worked very well. Northwestern is among the most attractive institutions in the country,” Uttal told The Daily. “So what is the problem we are trying to fix?”

Only four other faculty members voted with Uttal against the proposal that passed last month, which stopped allowing incoming freshman to replace up to six of their distribution requirements with AP courses.

“When you do things without studying the outcome, there could be unforeseen consequences,” he said.

Now Uttal wants to ensure that Weinberg administrators and faculty members study the tabled AP proposal carefully before deciding to put it up for a vote.

Uttal is in the process of conducting his own research to see if changing the number of AP credits allowed for graduation will help students, and also added that he is working with the Weinberg dean’s office to collect more information on the proposal.

Uttal praised the dean’s office for their efforts to find more evidence to support their proposal. But he added that there are many issues that need to be addressed before the proposal is taken off the table, said Uttal.

As a member of the Rhodes/Marshall Scholarship Committee this year, he said most of the applicants’ outstanding work did not come from distribution classes, but in higher level courses and seminars. Reducing the number of total AP credits that would count toward graduation could limit students’ possibilities of participating in study abroad, research courses, and field studies — all a part of Northwestern’s “edge,” he said.

Uttal also said he worries about accommodating students if the number of acceptable AP credits are cut down to four credits. The university needs to consider its resources when proposing such a large-scale plan. He said Weinberg administrators would have to create larger classes or hire more faculty to keep classes the same size. There is no advantage to sacrificing a year-long, intensive high school AP course for a large, one-quarter class at NU, he said.

“The bottom line is that we just don’t know whether the proposed changes are good or bad,” Uttal said. “We shouldn’t be making curricula policy this way. We should gather evidence, think about the consequences, implement the benefits and reduce the AP credits.”

Weinberg sophomore Josiah Jenkins came into the school without a single AP credit and said he does not feel it put him at a disadvantage.

But Jenkins noted his schedule is rather inflexible. Without any extra credits, he said he must take all 12 of his distribution requirements, which he finds redundant.

“I wanted to do field studies and study abroad,” Jenkins said. “(But) because I don’t have any AP credits I’ll have to spend more time in class and chose between the two.”

Reach Stephanie Chen at [email protected].

Quick facts:

 The tabled proposal would cut the

number of AP credits counted toward

graduation from 12 to 4.

 Opponents are concerned about students’ opportunities to participate in study abroad,

research, and field studies becoming limited, as well as class sizes becoming larger.