The Liberal Arts and Sciences

Liberal learning is fundamentally concerned with personal growth in its intellectual and moral dimensions. Educated persons welcome the hard academic work that is the price of discovery; they are stimulated by ideas, artistic expression, good talk, and great books; and they avow a continuing commitment to the search for truth in the methods of the sciences, the patterns of logic and language, and the beauties of art. The first obligation of a student is to cultivate her or his own habits of mind; the first duty of a liberal arts college is to develop, encourage, and direct that process.

With intellectual development should come a deepening moral awareness. A college woman or man should have the ability to lead as well as a willingness to cooperate. Comprehension of life's complexities should lead to a sympathetic understanding of others and a generosity in response to them. The student should develop a sense of social and civic responsibility, and integrity should guide every action.

Bates College has always held to these traditional values of the liberal arts and sciences. In a report to the Bates faculty, its Committee on Educational Policy offered a reaffirmation. The committee wrote: "The highest purpose of Bates College is to provide a community with sufficient challenge and sufficient support so that the undergraduate may mature in scholarship and in capacity for critical thinking and civilized expression. The graduate is more knowledgeable, to be sure, but above all he or she is capable of a reflective understanding of the self and its relationship to prior traditions and present environments."

The curriculum establishes the expectations for learning that form the foundation of the College's commitment to the liberal arts and sciences. College committees of faculty members and students review the educational policies and the specific curricular offerings of the College. New fields of scholarship are introduced by the faculty, and the most recent advances in technology are incorporated into the various disciplines. The College promotes the development of excellent writing and critical thinking skills through all its curricular offerings, from the first-year seminar to the senior thesis. The College encourages students to pursue their own original research as an extension of their regular course work and offers opportunities and financial support to facilitate such research during the academic year and the summer months. Recognizing the fundamental role the liberal arts play in the development of a social conscience and good citizenship, the College encourages students to integrate social service into their academic work and provides opportunities for service internships and field research on social issues. The five-week Short Term held every spring encourages educational innovation, including the integration into the curriculum of off-campus study. The calendar arrangement also provides a three-year option whereby students who are qualified, especially those with advanced standing, can accelerate their work and graduate earlier.

The Academic Calendar

The calendar calls for two semesters and a Short Term. The first semester ends in mid-December and the second ends in mid-April. A five-week Short Term usually concludes at the end of May. First-year and all other new students must be present for their matriculation at new-student orientation at the beginning of September. Although new students register prior to their arrival, they may adjust their registrations during the orientation period. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors register during periods established near the end of each prior semester.

Short Term. The Short Term provides an unusual opportunity for a variety of educational programs, frequently off campus, that cannot be offered in the regular semesters. These include marine biological studies at stations on the coast of Maine; geology fieldwork in the American Southwest and Hawaii; and art, theater, and music studies in New York City. The spring term allows time for archeological investigations by students in history and anthropology; field projects for students in economics, environmental studies, sociology, and psychology; and social-service internships associated with academic departments and programs. It provides special opportunities, on and off campus, for those carrying out laboratory experiments in the natural sciences. The term also allows for faculty-directed study in foreign countries. Recent off-campus Short Term units have focused on the study of Shakespearean drama and Renaissance culture in England; landscape painting and art history in Italy; anthropology in Bali, Greece, and Jamaica; environmental conservation in Ecuador, including its Galápagos Islands, and in Costa Rica; marine biology and geology in the Canadian Arctic; art and economics in China; history in Cuba; steel pan music in the Virgin Islands; medieval pilgrimage routes through France and Spain; and the production of plays at a professional English-language theater in Hungary.

Students may complete a maximum of three Short Term units, although only two are needed to fulfill the degree requirement. Students wishing to register for a third Short Term unit receive a lower registration priority than students registering for their first or second unit. An exception to this ranking is made for students participating in the three-year program (see below), who are required to complete three Short Term units. The ranking does not apply to units requiring "written permission of the instructor" to register.

Three-Year Program Option. The three-year option is designed for the especially qualified student who may benefit from an accelerated undergraduate program that allows for earlier admission to graduate school or for career placement. The accelerating student takes five courses each semester and attends every Short Term, completing the degree requirement of thirty courses, sixty quality points, and three Short Term units. Students must apply for entry into the three-year program through the Office of the Dean of Students early in their Bates career.

Academic Advising

Each Bates student has one or more academic advisors during the college years who provide advice in planning a curriculum to meet the student's particular needs. New students are assigned academic advisors from among members of the faculty. The advisor holds individual conferences with a student during his or her first week on campus and continues to counsel the student until the student declares a major. The major department or program assumes the advising responsibility upon the request of the student — no later than the end of the second year. The student and the advisor meet during registration periods and on an informal basis whenever the student seeks advice about the curriculum, course selection, the major program, the thesis, progress toward the degree, graduate school, or other academic concerns. While faculty members provide academic advice, final responsibility for course selection and the completion of degree requirements rests with the student. The registrar provides the student and his or her advisor with an evaluation of the student's progress toward the degree at the end of the junior year. The deans of students are also available to provide advice on academic matters.

In addition to the academic advisor, faculty committees and the Office of Career Services can provide guidance on graduate and professional schools. The Committee on Graduate Study provides general information and supervises the selection process for various graduate fellowships and grants. Students planning professional careers in medical fields are aided by the Medical Studies Committee. Students interested in graduate or professional schools are encouraged to contact these committees and the Office of Career Services' counseling staff early in their college careers so that a curriculum and a series of related internships and work experiences can be planned to meet their professional goals.

The First-Year Seminar Program

The first-year seminars are limited-enrollment courses specifically designed for first-year students. Topics vary from year to year, but they always represent a broad range of issues and questions addressed within the tradition of the liberal arts and sciences. The first-year seminars enable entering students to work with faculty and other students in the context of a small class; they provide closely supervised training in techniques of reasoning, writing, and research; and they foster an attitude of active participation in the educational process. First-year seminars carry full course credit toward the baccalaureate degree and are offered in the fall and winter semesters. A first-year seminar may be designated as fulfilling General Education requirements. First-year students are encouraged to consult the listing of first-year seminars in the description of courses and units of instruction in this Catalog (see page XX).

General Education

Throughout the College's history, its faculty has expected all students to pursue certain common patterns of study as well as to complete a major or concentrated focus of study. The faculty continues to believe that there are areas of knowledge and understanding, modes of appreciation, and kinds of skills that are of general and lasting significance to the intellectual life.

In establishing these General Education requirements, the faculty reflects its conviction that a Bates graduate should have a critical appreciation of scientific and social scientific knowledge and understanding. It believes that experience with theories and methods of at least one science and at least one social science leads to awareness of both the importance of such knowledge in the modern world and its limitations. In addition, the faculty is convinced that the graduating student should have an appreciation for the manner in which quantitative techniques can increase one's capacity to describe and analyze the natural and social worlds.

The faculty also believes that the graduating student should understand both the possibilities and the limitations of disciplined study in the humanities and history. Such study permits a critical perspective on the ideas, values, expressions, and experiences that constitute our culture. General Education also encourages respect for the integrity of thought, judgment, creativity, and tradition beyond the culture of contemporary America. In addition, the faculty encourages each student to do some study in a foreign language.

Major Fields of Study

While the faculty believes that each student should have essential familiarity with the main fields of liberal learning — the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences — it also believes that a student must choose a field of special concentration — a major — to gain the advantages that come from studying one academic subject more extensively and intensively. This major field occupies a quarter to a third of the student's college work and may be related to the intended career following graduation.

Students may choose to declare two majors. The double major requires completion of all major requirements, including the comprehensive examination and/or the thesis, in two academic departments or programs.

Departmental Majors. Majors may be taken in fields established within the academic departments. There are twenty-four such majors: anthropology, art, biology, chemistry, Chinese, economics, English, French, geology, German, history, Japanese, mathematics, music, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, religion, rhetoric, Russian, sociology, Spanish, and theater. The specific requirements for each major are explained in the introductory paragraphs to the department's courses and units of instruction in the Catalog.

Interdisciplinary Program Majors. The faculty has established interdisciplinary programs in which students may major. These include African American studies, American cultural studies, Asian studies, biological chemistry, classical and medieval studies, environmental studies, neuroscience, and women and gender studies. The programs are administered by committees of faculty members from different departments. Major requirements for these programs are explained in the introductory paragraphs of the program's courses and units of instruction in the Catalog.

Individual Interdisciplinary Majors. In addition to established departmental and program majors, a student may propose an individual interdisciplinary major, should that student discover a well-defined intellectual interest that crosses one or more of the boundaries of the established fields of concentration. An interdisciplinary major involves a detailed program of study with courses drawn from at least two departments but only one senior thesis and/or comprehensive examination.

Detailed guidelines and an application for the individual interdisciplinary major are available from the registrar. Proposals for interdisciplinary majors must be submitted to the registrar for approval by the Committee on Curriculum and Calendar in the sophomore year or early in the junior year. Proposals must include a faculty advisory board of at least three faculty members who have agreed collectively to act as major advisor and thesis advisor (unless the student's program includes a comprehensive examination instead of a thesis) and a list of appropriate courses and/or units to be included in the major. The student with an individual interdisciplinary major graduates with a degree in interdisciplinary studies.

Engineering Major. Students interested in aerospace, biomedical, chemical, civil, electrical, environmental, mechanical, mineral, or nuclear engineering may participate in the College's Liberal Arts-Engineering Dual Degree Program, in which three years at Bates are typically followed by two years at an affiliated engineering school (see page XX). Recommended course sequences vary according to each student's particular engineering interests; curricular guidelines are available from the Dual Degree Program faculty advisor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Students participating in the Dual Degree Program graduate from Bates with a degree in engineering.

The Senior Thesis

One of the most important components of the Bates curriculum is the senior thesis, which is offered in all departments and programs and required by most. The faculty believes that a Bates senior is well-educated and well-prepared to undertake a significant research, service, performance, or studio project in the final year of study in the major. More than 85 percent of each graduating class completes a senior thesis. The traditional senior thesis involves one or two semesters of original research and writing, culminating in a substantial paper on a research topic of the student's design. Such an effort requires that the student possess an excellent understanding of the subject area, its theoretical underpinnings, and its research methodology. The student must also be able to think critically and comprehensively about the topic, and must be able to advance a well-formulated argument. Conducting a senior thesis draws on a student's past academic experience and requires considerable independent thinking and creativity, self-discipline, and effective time management.

The student is guided in this process by the thesis advisor. Many departments and programs bring thesis students together in seminar courses or colloquia in which they meet regularly to discuss current literature, research methodologies, and their own progress. Several departments and programs require students to deliver formal presentations of their thesis work.

Some departments and programs offer or require thesis work that includes theatrical or musical performance, video production, curriculum development, service-learning, or studio art work and exhibition. Qualified students may occasionally undertake a joint thesis in which two students collaborate on one project.

In some departments a senior may culminate his or her career at Bates with an alternative project. Portfolios or comprehensive examinations are available as thesis alternatives in several major fields. Specific information on the work required of seniors in the major fields is detailed in the introductory paragraphs to the departments' and programs' courses and units of instruction in the Catalog.

The Honors Program

The College's Honors Program provides qualified students an opportunity to conduct more-extensive independent study and research. Honors are awarded for special distinction in the major fields. Honors study usually is carried on throughout the senior year under the guidance of a faculty advisor. Students normally enter the program at the end of the junior year. Students who wish to be nominated to the Honors Program should apply to the chair of their major departments or programs.

The Honors Program consists of the writing of a substantial thesis and an oral examination on the thesis and the major field. Some departments require a written comprehensive examination as well. In an alternative offered by some departments, eligible students elect a program consisting of a performance or a project in the creative arts and a written statement on the project, a written comprehensive examination, or an oral examination on the project and on courses in the major. The oral-examination committee includes the thesis advisor, members of the major department or program, at least one faculty member not a member of the major department or program, and an examiner from another college or university who specializes in the field of study. Honors theses become a part of the archives of the College, held in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library. Theses are cataloged in Ladd Library, and are available on reserve for use by patrons.

Secondary Concentrations

In addition to completing a major, a student may elect to complete a secondary concentration in a number of disciplines. Secondary concentration requirements vary and are detailed in the introductory paragraphs of the courses and units of instruction of the relevant departments or programs in the Catalog. Secondary concentrations are offered in anthropology, Chinese, dance, economics, education, French, German, Greek, history, Japanese, Latin, mathematics, music, philosophy, religion, rhetoric, Russian, sociology, South Asian studies, Spanish, theater, and women and gender studies.

Independent Study

Independent study courses or units allow students to pursue individually a course of study or research not offered in the Bates curriculum. This may be pursued as a course during the semester (courses designated 360) or a unit during the Short Term (s50). The student designs and plans the independent study in consultation with a faculty member. The work must be approved by a Bates department or program, supervised by a Bates faculty member who is responsible for evaluation of the work and submission of a grade, and completed during the semester or Short Term for which the student has registered for the course or unit. Faculty members advise independent studies voluntarily; they may refuse a request to advise an independent study course or unit.

Independent study course work is undertaken during the academic year, but it may reflect upon summer activities. Credit, however, is awarded for work done during the academic year and the student must register for a fall independent study during the spring before the activity takes place when a summer learning experience is a substantial component of the independent study. The student must be in residence and may not complete an independent study away from campus unless participating in a Bates Fall Semester Abroad program or a Colby-Bates-Bowdoin (CBB) Off-Campus Study program. Students may not receive both transfer credit and independent study credit for the same summer activity. Students may not receive credit for employment unless there is a clearly defined academic component to the work. Academic credit is not granted for work completed under Bates summer research grant programs. Students may register for no more than one independent study course during any given semester. A student may complete a total of only one Short Term independent study unit. For more information, students may consult the Independent Study Registration Form, available from the registrar.

Learning Associates. Central to the strength of a Bates education are the intense and deep relationships formed between faculty and students, and the quality of learning that results from sustained contact between teacher and learner. To complement the focus and depth of intellectual exploration among students and faculty, the College engages "learning associates," experts in many fields who hail from around Maine and around the world. Learning associates help students and faculty by bringing new meanings and perspectives to a subject. Learning associates may be on campus for a day, a week, a semester, or a year, or may have a "virtual residence," working with students via electronic mail, critiquing research methodology or results, or reading emerging senior theses. These experts expand the knowledge base available to students and faculty, challenge the neatness of discipline-based academic thinking, and provide rich contexts for translating ideas into action in the real world. Each year a variety of learning associates work with students in a range of disciplines. Learning associates in the last year included an attorney who co-taught a course with a classicist on the challenges facing democracies in crisis in ancient Greece and contemporary America; an expert teacher of writing in Spanish as a second language who worked with senior thesis writers in Spanish; and an Indonesian gamelan master who helped students and faculty better understand this unique instrumental ensemble.

Requirements for the Baccalaureate Degree

The Course and Unit Credit System. A student's progress toward the baccalaureate degree is measured by course credits and unit credits. All courses offered in the fall and winter semesters carry one course credit; all curriculum offerings in the Short Term are accorded one unit credit. Each candidate for the baccalaureate degree must complete thirty-two course credits and two Short Term units, except students who participate in the three-year degree program. Three-year students must complete thirty course credits and three Short Term units. Students may not repeat a course for credit for which they have received a passing grade.

Grades. The faculty of the College assesses student academic performance by assigning the following grades: A, B, C, D, and plus and minus for each; P; and F. Quality-point equivalencies for these grades are described below. A grade of ON is used to indicate that a course requires two semesters of work to receive one credit; a final grade is determined at the end of the second semester. A temporary grade of DEF indicates that a student has secured, through a faculty member and a dean of students, a formal deferral for incomplete course work. Incomplete work for which deferred grades are given must be completed in a specific period of time as determined on the deferral form. The deferred grade becomes an F# grade if the work is not completed on time. A grade of F# is an administrative grade and is computed in the GPA as zero quality points. The final grade, if previously deferred, includes an asterisk (*) when posted on the transcript. A grade of W is used to indicate that a student withdrew from the course or unit after the official drop date. The deans of students or the Committee on Academic Standing may grant such withdrawals. Short Term unit grades are not calculated in the grade point average and carry no quality points. They appear on the transcript with a notation indicating this practice. Faculty members may choose to use Satisfactory (S) or Unsatisfactory (U) grades to assess the work of all of their students in any given Short Term unit.

Pass/Fail Option. Students may elect to take a total of two Bates courses (but not Short Term units) on a pass/fail basis, with a maximum of one per semester. The following conditions apply:

1. Students may declare or change a pass/fail option until the final day to add a course.

2. Students taking a course pass/fail are not identified as such on class rosters. Faculty members submit a regular letter grade (A, B, C, D, F) to the registrar, who converts the letter grade to a pass or a fail. Unless the student chooses to inform the instructor, only the student, the student's advisor, and the registrar know the grading mode for the course. A grade of D-minus or above is considered a passing grade.

3. Departments and programs decide whether courses taken pass/fail can be used to satisfy major and secondary concentration requirements. This information is available in the introductory paragraphs for each department's and program's courses and units of instruction in this Catalog.

4. Courses taken pass/fail are not computed in the student's grade point average, and do not count toward General Education requirements. A pass is equivalent to two quality points.

Grade Reports. At the end of each semester and Short Term, grade reports are available for viewing on the Bates Garnet Gateway Online Records System (www.bates.edu/rsfs.xml). Paper copies of grade reports may be sent to students upon request to the registrar. Faculty policies governing academic standing are outlined on page XX.

Course Evaluations. At the end of each semester students are required to complete an evaluation of each course taken. Students have a limited amount of time in which to complete a Web-based course evaluation, available on the Garnet Gateway. Students' grade reports are not released if this requirement has not been fulfilled.

Dean's List. Based on semester grade point averages, at the conclusion of each semester approximately the top 25 percent of students are named to the Dean's List. To be eligible, students must have completed all course work by the end of the semester and received letter grades in at least three Bates courses. At the start of each academic year, an appropriate GPA level is determined for inclusion of students on the Dean's List for the ensuing year. This GPA level is computed as the minimum of the top 25 percent of the semester GPAs of all full-time students during the preceding three years. In 2003-2004 a student must earn a GPA of 3.6 or higher to be named to the Dean's List.

Degree Requirements. Students may pursue courses leading to the degree of either bachelor of arts or bachelor of science. When determining graduation eligibility, students are held to the curriculum and degree requirements listed in the Catalog for the year in which they matriculated at Bates College. Each student is solely responsible for completing all of these requirements.

Each candidate for graduation must complete the following requirements:

1. Either (a) thirty-two course credits, sixty-four quality points, and two Short Term units; or (b) thirty course credits, sixty quality points, and three Short Term units. Option (b) is available only for students who graduate under the three-year program. The following values are used in the computation of quality points:

A+ = 4.0	B+ = 3.3	C+ = 2.3	D+ = 1.3	F = 0	ON = 0
A = 4.0	B = 3.0	C = 2.0	D = 1.0	F# = 0	W = 0
A- = 3.7	B- = 2.7	C- = 1.7	D- = 0.7	DEF = 0	P = 2

2. All prescribed work in the major field, including at least eight courses.

3. In the senior year, satisfactory achievement on a comprehensive examination in the major field, or a senior thesis, or both, as determined by the major department or program.

4. Registration in each regular semester for no fewer than three or no more than five academic courses.

5. Enrollment in courses at Bates for the final semester of the senior year. Senior work in the major field must be completed in residence.

6. Physical education credits. The physical education requirement may be satisfied by completing two ten-week physical education activity courses. Students may also meet the requirement through department-approved participation in intercollegiate athletics, club sports, and activity courses, or any combination. This requirement should be completed by the end of the first year in residence.

7. General Education requirements. The following four requirements must be fulfilled in addition to the requirements noted in 1-6 above:

a) At least three courses or designated units from the curriculum in biology, chemistry, geology, or physics and astronomy. Two of the courses or designated units must be a department-designated set, as listed under "General Education" in the department's introduction to course offerings in the Catalog. First-year seminars listed in the introduction to the department's course offerings may also satisfy the requirement. A student major in one of these departments must fulfill this requirement by including at least one course or designated unit outside the major but within one of the departments noted above. This course or unit may be one required by the major department.

b) At least three courses or designated units from the curriculum in anthropology, economics, education, political science, psychology, or sociology. Two of the courses or designated units must be a department-designated set, as listed under "General Education" in the department's introduction to course offerings in the Catalog. First-year seminars listed in the introduction to the department's course offerings may also satisfy the requirement. A student major in one of these departments must fulfill this requirement by including at least one course or designated unit outside the major but within one of the departments noted above. This course or unit may be one required by the major department.

c) At least one course or unit in which the understanding and use of quantitative techniques are essential to satisfactory performance. Designations of these courses and units are made by the departments and cited in the Catalog. Courses and units designated as satisfying requirements in the natural sciences and in the social sciences — see (a) and (b) above — also may be designated to satisfy this requirement.

d) At least five courses from the curricula of at least three of the following fields: art, classical and medieval studies, Chinese, dance, English, French, German, Greek, history, Japanese, Latin, music, philosophy, religion, rhetoric, Russian, Spanish, and theater. Any one department- or program-designated Short Term unit or first-year seminar, as listed in the introduction to the departments' or programs' course offerings in the Catalog, may serve as options for the fifth course.

Courses and units cross-listed in two or more departments or programs may be used to fulfill General Education requirements if they are cross-listed with an appropriate department. In some cases the course or unit may fulfill more than one requirement, if it is cross-listed in more than one academic division.

8. Bachelor of science requirements. In addition, candidates for the bachelor of science degree must complete Chemistry 107 and 108 (A or B), Mathematics 105 and 106, and Physics 107 and 108. In some circumstances, students with Advanced Placement credit, International Baccalaureate credit, or equivalent college course work may place out of one or more of these courses. These students are required to take the other course in the set, or, if they place out of that course as well, another approved course in the department.

9. Liberal Arts-Engineering Dual Degree Plan. After three years of full-time study at Bates, qualified students may enroll in a two-year engineering program at Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Case Western Reserve University, or Washington University in St. Louis. Upon completion of this five-year program, students receive both an undergraduate degree in engineering from Bates College and a bachelor of science from the engineering school affiliate. Students who wish to pursue this line of study should consult with the faculty advisor for the Dual Degree Plan within the first two weeks of their undergraduate careers.

10. Academic honors. The College recognizes academic achievement though three kinds of honors: general honors, major-field honors (see p. XX), and Dean's List (see p. XX).

There are three levels of general honors, based upon cumulative grade point average: cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude.

For the Class of 2004, general honors are calculated as follows: cum laude goes to those with a GPA of 3.4 to less than 3.6; magna cum laude, 3.6 to less than 3.8; summa cum laude, 3.8 or higher.

Beginning with the Class of 2005, general honors are calculated as follows: By the start of each academic year, the registrar computes the minimum cumulative grade point average necessary to rank students in the top 2 percent, 8 percent, and 15 percent of the combined last three graduating classes. These levels then serve as the minimum GPAs to receive a degree cum laude (highest 15 percent), magna cum laude (highest 8 percent), and summa cum laude (highest 2 percent).

Satisfactory Academic Progress

The College is required by federal law to establish standards of satisfactory progress toward the degree and to monitor each recipient of federal aid to insure that he or she is making satisfactory progress according to the standards. The concept of satisfactory progress mandates that both grade point average (GPA) — qualitative progress — and the number of credits completed — quantitative progress — be monitored. The Committee on Academic Standing is responsible for evaluation of the student's progress, reviews the student's academic standing each semester, and evaluates petitions for exceptions to these standards. In addition, the deans of students may authorize exceptions for serious illnesses or personal emergencies. The College has established these standards:

Qualitative Standards. Student academic standing is based on the schedule below. All Bates course grades are included in a student's GPA; however, for the purposes of determining academic standing (good standing, probation, dismissal), first-year grades may be omitted from the computation if that omission benefits the student.

The Office of the Dean of Students informs students of changes in their academic standing according to the following schedule:

I. First-year students
    A. First semester
        1. If the GPA is less than 0.75: dismissal
        2. If the GPA is greater than or equal to 0.75 but less than 1.5: probation
        3. If the GPA is greater than or equal to 1.5: good academic standing
    B. Second semester, for students in good academic standing
        1. If the semester GPA is less than 0.75: dismissal
        2. If the semester GPA is greater than or equal to 0.75 but less than 1.5: probation
        3. If the cumulative GPA is greater than or equal to 1.5: good academic standing
    C. Second semester, for students on academic probation
        1. If the semester GPA is less than 1.5: dismissal
        2. If the cumulative GPA is less than 1.75 but the semester GPA is greater than or equal to 1.5: probation
        3. If the cumulative GPA is greater than or equal to 1.75: good academic standing

II. Sophomores, juniors, first-semester seniors
    A. For purposes of determining academic standing internally only, the computation of the cumulative GPA for upperclass students omits first-year grades if, and only if, this is advantageous to the student.
    B. For students in good academic standing
        1. If the semester GPA is less than 1.0: dismissal
        2. If the cumulative GPA is less than 2.0: probation
        3. If the cumulative GPA is equal to or greater than 2.0: good academic standing
    C. For students on academic probation
        1. If the cumulative and semester GPA are less than 2.0: dismissal
        2. If the cumulative GPA is less than 2.0 but the semester GPA is greater than or equal to 2.0: probation
        3. If the cumulative GPA is greater than or equal to 2.0: good academic standing

III. Second-semester seniors: Students graduate if the normal degree requirements, including courses, Short Term units, and total grade point averages, are met. This applies to students on academic probation from the prior semester, even if they do not fulfill the normal probationary requirements for good academic standing in the second senior semester.

Changes in academic standing are reported to students and academic advisors, and a statistical summary, excluding students' names, is reported to the faculty each semester. Parents are informed when students are on probation or are dismissed. Students may appeal changes in academic standing to the Academic Standing Committee after consulting with the dean of students.

Quantitative Standards. A student's progress toward the baccalaureate degree is measured by course credits and unit credits. Students usually follow a four-year track; however, some students complete the academic program in three years (see p. XX)

Normally students in the four-year program successfully complete eight courses by the end of their first year, sixteen courses by the end of their second year, twenty-four courses and one Short Term unit by the end of their third year, and thirty-two courses and two Short Term units by the end of their fourth year.

To comply with the satisfactory-progress policy, each candidate in the four-year program must successfully complete the following minimum number of course and unit credits: no fewer than six courses by the end of the first year; no fewer than twelve courses by the end of the second year; no fewer than twenty courses and one Short Term unit by the end of the third year; and thirty-two courses and two Short Term units by the end of the fourth year.

Normally students in the three-year program successfully complete ten courses and one Short Term unit by the end of their first year, twenty courses and two Short Term units by the end of their second year, and thirty courses and three Short Term units by the end of their third year.

To comply with the satisfactory-progress policy, each candidate in the three-year program must successfully complete the following minimum number of course and unit credits: no fewer than eight courses and one Short Term unit by the end of the first year; no fewer than eighteen courses and two Short Term units by the end of the second year; and no fewer than thirty courses and three Short Term units by the end of the third year.

Maximum Time Frame. Students are eligible to receive financial aid for eight full-time semesters of enrollment. Any student not meeting the standards of satisfactory progress is ineligible for federal student aid. The director of student financial services notifies students if they have not met the federal standards. The Office of the Dean of Students notifies students about probation or dismissal.

Appeals. If a student is ineligible for financial aid due to lack of satisfactory progress or exceeding the limit of eight semesters of aid, and believes that her or his case has exceptional or extenuating circumstances that caused this ineligibility, she or he may request within one week of the start of the next semester a review by the dean of students and the registrar and director of student financial services.

Reestablishing Eligibility. Written notice is given to all students whose financial aid eligibility is rescinded for lack of academic progress. If denied aid because of failure to meet the satisfactory-progress policy standards, students may reestablish eligibility for federal aid by subsequently meeting the standards. The Committee on Academic Standing must also readmit students to the College. After a student has reestablished eligibility, she or he may be considered for aid for upcoming periods but not for periods during which standards had not been met. The Office of the Dean of Students provides consultation to students seeking to rectify deficiencies in grades or earned credits.

Additional Information. Students who fail to make satisfactory academic progress do not receive the following types of financial aid: federal Pell Grant; federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant; Federal College Work-Study; federal Perkins Loan; federal Stafford Loan; federal PLUS Loan; or Bates College scholarships, grants, loans, or employment. Students on probationary status are still eligible to receive financial aid; students dismissed are ineligible. Students who reduce their course load are required to repay the appropriate financial assistance. Students participating in the Federal College Work-Study Program are subject to termination of employment. The grades of F and DEF are not considered as successful completion of a course or unit. A student who is suspended for unsatisfactory scholarship, or for disciplinary or financial reasons, is denied permission to continue to attend classes, to enroll in subsequent terms, to reside in college housing, to receive Bates-funded financial aid, and to participate in Bates-sponsored extracurricular activities or gain access to facilities in ways that are not also open to the general public.

Reinstatement after Withdrawal or Dismissal

A student in good academic standing who withdraws from the College may be reinstated at the discretion of the dean of students or an associate dean of students, if the reinstatement is within two years of the withdrawal. A student in good standing who has withdrawn for more than two years, a student not in good standing, or a student who has been dismissed from the College must apply for readmission to the Committee on Academic Standing through the dean of students. Students not in good standing or dismissed must be separated from the College for at least one full semester, and must provide evidence of serious purpose and of academic or professional involvement. Candidates for readmission for the fall semester must submit their credentials by 1 May. Those seeking readmission for the winter semester must submit their credentials by 15 November.

Connected Learning Opportunities

Learning in the liberal arts has historically been characterized by making connections across ideas and disciplines, usually within the confines of a traditional curriculum. Bates challenges students to consider the courses they take as part of a larger intellectual experience, but also to expand the connections they make in their learning to include — in addition to regular course offerings — the unique opportunities for discovery found in off-campus study, undergraduate research, service-learning, internships, undergraduate fellowships, volunteer experiences, employment during the summer or the academic year, and extracurricular activities. By engaging in these activities and understanding how they contribute to both attaining knowledge and cultivating the habits of mind that are the fruits of a liberal arts education, students can strengthen their academic experiences and prepare themselves well for a lifetime of learning and engagement. A number of programs, curricular and cocurricular, provide opportunities to make learning connections, and students are encouraged to participate in them.

Off-Campus Study Programs

The College sponsors a variety of off-campus study programs through which students can earn either Bates credit or approved program credit. The programs are administered by the Off-Campus Study Office and are overseen by the Committee on Off-Campus Study according to policies set by the faculty. To be eligible, a student must have a 2.5 cumulative GPA at the time of application. A student may become ineligible if the GPA drops below 2.5 at any point in the application process or after admission to her or his program. Registration as a four-year student, including residence at Bates during the sophomore year, is required. The student must also consult with and obtain the approval of the chair of the major department. The Committee on Off-Campus Study also considers the student's personal maturity and character, as well as capacity for independent work, in determining eligibility. Additional information on off-campus study opportunities is available on the Off-Campus Study Office Web site (www.bates.edu/acad/offcampusstudy/).

Students planning to study off campus for a semester or a full year must register for off-campus study by 1 March of the preceding year. The number of students who may study off campus during the winter semester is limited to 25 percent of the junior class. For students who plan to study outside the United States, half of the spaces available are allocated at random in the registration process. Students not randomly selected, and all students who want to study elsewhere in the United States, may petition the Committee on Off-Campus Study for one of the remaining spaces. The Committee bases its selection on four criteria: (1) whether the off-campus study opportunity is available only during the winter semester; (2) whether it provides unique academic benefits such as advanced language study in context; (3) whether it provides special advantages for the major that are not available in comparable courses at Bates; and (4) whether it provides in-depth exposure to a distinctly different cultural and socioeconomic setting. There is no enrollment limit on study abroad for the fall semester or full year; however, the student must participate in Off-Campus Study Registration and meet the other requirements outlined above.

Students participating in a Bates Fall Semester Abroad program or a CBB Off-Campus Study program pay the regular comprehensive fee. Participants in other programs pay the Off-Campus Study Registration Fee. Their fee is 2 percent of the annual comprehensive fee for each semester of study. For 2003-2004, this charge is $750 per semester. All other costs are calculated by the foreign program and are the responsibility of the individual student. However, federal, state, and Bates financial aid is available subject to the student's financial need based on the program expenses and the policies outlined on page XX. Additional information and applications for off-campus study programs are available through the Off-Campus Study Office.

With the exception of summer courses, matriculated students who wish to receive credit for study outside the United States and for affiliated domestic programs must have the pre-approval of the Committee on Off-Campus Study. They must study in a faculty-approved program, and complete their studies in accordance with the committee's guidelines. The Committee on Off-Campus Study is responsible for the awarding of approved program credit except for the Bates Fall Semester Abroad and the CBB Off-Campus Study programs. Individual departments and programs decide whether approved program credits and transfer credits that have been accepted by the College may also be applied toward General Education requirements or the major requirements.

Bates students may enhance their study-abroad experience with grants provided by the Barlow Endowment for Study Abroad. This endowment provides fellowships, grants for enrichment activities during or after the program, and grants for thesis research related to an individual's study-abroad experience. More information on the endowment is available though the Off-Campus Study Office and on line (www.bates.edu/acad/offcampusstudy/).

The Bates Fall Semester Abroad Program. The College sponsors one or more fall semester abroad programs under the direction of faculty members. In 2003, the program takes place in China and Russia. In 2004, programs are planned for Germany and Japan. The objectives of this program include combining academic work with a cross-cultural learning experience and providing students with opportunities for intensive foreign-language study. Four course credits are awarded for successful completion of the program, which includes four required courses, two intensive language courses and two seminars in topics relevant to understanding the host country. Grades are included on the Bates transcript and in the student's grade point average. The comprehensive fee includes all program costs, including international airfare. This program is open to all students with preference to new matriculants. Additional information is available from the offices of Admissions and Off-Campus Study. The program and course descriptions for the 2003 Bates Fall Semester Abroad Program begin on page XXX of the Catalog.

Colby-Bates-Bowdoin (CBB) Off-Campus Study Consortium. Bates sponsors semester-long study-abroad programs for juniors in collaboration with Colby and Bowdoin colleges in Ecuador, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. These programs are closely associated with the curricula of the three colleges, and all courses are taught or overseen by CBB faculty. Grades are included on the Bates transcript and in grade point average calculations. The program and course descriptions for the 2003-2004 CBB Off-Campus Study programs begin on page XX of the Catalog.

Junior Year Programs. To provide additional opportunities for academic study, research, and cultural experiences not readily available on campus, the College supports study in universities and in select academic programs outside the United States by qualified students during one or two semesters in the junior year. Bates has found that the variety of academic disciplines, the different methods of study, and the experience of living in a foreign culture often enhance a student's academic career.

Under the Junior Year Abroad and Junior Semester Abroad programs, students have studied in more than seventy countries. In non-English-speaking countries, students participate in a wide range of American college and university programs selected for their academic quality, their emphasis on full immersion experiences, and their association with foreign universities. Students study throughout Europe and Russia; in China, Japan, and other Asian countries; in Israel, Egypt, and other Middle Eastern and African countries; and from Mexico to Chile in the Americas. In English-speaking countries, students enroll directly at select host-country universities, experiencing the academic and social life of their students. In recent years, these universities have included Bristol, Edinburgh, the London School of Economics, Kings, Oxford, and University College London in Great Britain; Trinity and the National Universities of Ireland in Cork, Dublin, and Galway; the universities of Adelaide, Melbourne, and New South Wales in Australia; and the universities of Auckland and Otago in New Zealand.

Language skills greatly contribute to the academic and social experience in non-English-speaking settings. Therefore, students are required to have completed the equivalent of at least two years of college-level language study prior to study abroad in French-, German-, or Spanish-language settings. In Chinese-, Japanese-, and Russian-language settings, the equivalent of at least one year of college-level study is required. Prior language study is not required elsewhere, but students must include language study, ancient or modern, as part of their course work. Admission to a particular university is entirely dependent upon its decision with regard to the individual applicant. When appropriate, a student may petition the Committee on Off-Campus Study for an exception to these policies.

Washington Semester Program. This opportunity is administered by American University and provides a number of thematic programs coupled with internships. Residence in the District of Columbia for a semester enables students to study and research firsthand the policies and processes of the federal government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector in Washington, D.C.

Maritime Studies. Bates is one of a group of select colleges affiliated with the Williams College-Mystic Seaport Program in American Maritime Studies. In addition to taking courses in American maritime history, marine ecology, maritime literature, marine policy, and oceanography, students are introduced to navigational and shipbuilding skills. During the semester they also spend approximately two weeks at sea, sailing and conducting research.

Associated Kyoto Program. Bates is one of sixteen colleges and universities that sponsor a yearlong program in Japan in association with Doshisha University. The program provides intensive Japanese language and related courses and the opportunity to live with a Japanese family. The program takes place in Kyoto, an exceptional cultural setting as the historic capital of Japan as well as a modern city of more than one million inhabitants.

India. Bates is a member of the South India Term Abroad (SITA) Consortium. This program provides an opportunity during the fall semester for students to study an Indian language, history, culture, and related topics in Tamil Nadu. The curriculum, taught by Indian faculty as well as faculty of the consortium colleges, is designed to ensure broad exposure to South Asian life and culture.

Sri Lanka. Bates has joined with other institutions to sponsor the ISLE Program for study in Sri Lanka. The program, offered during the fall semester, gives qualified students the opportunity for immersion in Sri Lankan culture under the guidance of a faculty member from one of the sponsoring colleges.

Exchange Programs with Other U.S. Colleges. Semester exchange programs with Morehouse College and Spelman College provide Bates students the opportunity to study at a leading historically black men's college or a leading historically black women's college, respectively. Students may also study for one semester or a year at Washington and Lee University.

Research Semester Programs. The College encourages qualified upperclass students to participate in special semester-long research programs offered off campus by other educational and research institutions, and for which Bates credit may be earned. Faculty of the department closely associated with the research area are familiar with these opportunities, and students should apply to these programs through the department chairs. Biological research semester programs are available at the Bigelow Laboratory for Oceanographic Studies in Boothbay Harbor, Maine; the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine; Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City; and other nationally recognized research laboratories in the natural sciences.

Academic Leave and Transfer Credit for Matriculated Students. Some students choose to expand their Bates experience by attending classes at other institutions in the United States, from which they may receive transfer credit according to the College's transfer credit policy (see below). Students who take three or more courses elsewhere in the United States during a semester are considered to be taking an academic leave. Students who wish to take an academic leave must inform the College by registering for off-campus study no later than 1 March of the preceding year. The number of students who may study off campus during the winter semester is limited, with most spaces reserved for individuals who plan to study in one of the College's programs outside the United States. Students who wish to transfer credits from within the United States during the winter semester may petition the Committee on Off-Campus Study for one of the remaining spaces. Students on a personal leave and students taking summer courses may take up to two courses without participating in the Off-Campus Study Registration.

Students who take academic leaves to pursue study elsewhere usually take courses at state universities and private colleges, but courses from more specialized programs, such as the Center for Northern Studies in Vermont, the Semester in Environmental Sciences at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts, and the New York Studio School, may also be transferred.

Transfer Credit Policy. Three types of credit can be applied toward a Bates degree: a) Bates credit, earned from courses taught and/or evaluated and graded by Bates faculty, b) approved program credit, earned from courses taken while participating in a Bates-approved program administered by the Committee on Off-Campus Study, and c) non-Bates credit, earned at an institution of higher education other than Bates that meets the established standards for transfer to Bates or credit awarded from a standardized test such as the Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or A-Level examination. Only grades awarded by Bates faculty are computed in the student's grade point average.

Degree candidates matriculating as first-year students, either in the fall or winter semester, must earn a minimum of twenty-four Bates course credits or approved program credits. Transfer students must earn a minimum of sixteen Bates credits. They may transfer a maximum of two non-Bates course credits earned after matriculating at Bates. A transfer student is defined as any student who has previously matriculated as a degree candidate at another institution and has earned or is earning credit.

The registrar and the department or program chair are responsible for the overall evaluation of non-Bates credit, subject to established guidelines. The Committee on Academic Standing may grant exceptions to the established guidelines. All non-Bates course credits awarded are equivalent to one Bates course credit and two quality points toward the graduation requirement of thirty-two course credits and sixty-four quality points.

Non-Bates credit is evaluated based on specific requirements. Credit must be awarded from an official college or university transcript, from an official Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate test score report, or from an official document considered equivalent to a transcript by the registrar. Courses must be appropriate to a liberal arts and sciences college, comparable in quality to those offered at Bates, and students must achieve a grade of C or better. Courses taken in a college's or university's continuing education or extension program must be applicable toward the bachelor of arts or the bachelor of science degree being pursued by full-time undergraduate students at that institution. College courses taken prior to secondary school graduation must have been taught on a college or university campus and graded in competition with college students. Credit must be earned at a four-year, regionally accredited institution; however, courses earned in an accredited community or junior college or any nontraditional setting may be transferable with approval of the department or program and the Committee on Academic Standing; matriculated Bates students must obtain these approvals prior to enrolling in the course(s). Courses must be worth at least three semester hours or five quarter-hours or meet a minimum of thirty-six class meeting hours to be eligible for transfer. When appropriate, quarter-hours may be added together and multiplied by two-thirds to determine the equivalent total number of semester hours to be used toward unspecified transfer credits. Students may receive credit for a maximum of two courses taken during summer school sessions. All credits must be transferred by the beginning of the final semester of the senior year. Credit for Short Term units may not be transferred from another institution. Students must be enrolled at Bates for the final semester of their senior year.

A student who fails to graduate by the anticipated degree date may transfer credits necessary to graduate for up to two years afterwards. After two years, the student will be withdrawn automatically from the College, but may petition the Committee on Academic Standing for permission to complete the degree.

Personal Leave. In unusual circumstances, students may need to interrupt their study at the College for health or personal reasons. In addition, students may take a personal leave of absence to pursue an internship or other non-academic experience. Accordingly, the College permits students in good standing to apply to the dean of students or an associate dean of students for a personal leave of absence. A leave-of-absence form must be completed by the student. Students must also meet with representatives from the Office of the Registrar and Student Financial Services. Students are advised that some education loan repayments may begin if a student is on a personal leave. Students on a personal leave may take up to two courses elsewhere in the United States for Bates credit, subject to the transfer policies outlined above. The College guarantees reinstatement to the student at the end of the specified leave period, provided a registration deposit is made by 1 August for the first semester and 1 December for the second semester.

College Venture Program. Bates, in cooperation with Brown, Holy Cross, Swarthmore, Vassar, and Wesleyan, offers a noncredit internship placement service for students who choose to interrupt their undergraduate education by taking a personal leave of absence. Students who elect not to attend during Short Term may also use this program to secure employment from mid-April to September. A limited number of half-year or full-year placements are available for recent graduates. Students may use this service and the other internship opportunities available through the Office of Career Services to explore career interests.

Student Research

A distinctive feature of the Bates curriculum is its emphasis on individual research. In their first year, students may participate in a first-year seminar, a small class in which the development of critical thinking, concise writing, and other research skills is emphasized. Methodology courses and advanced seminars offer further research training in a specific discipline. Many students undertake independent study courses and units in order to explore in depth a subject of particular interest. Qualified students may participate in a semester-long program at a research institution, earning Bates credit (see p. XX). Each summer, many students undertake research independently or in collaboration with a Bates faculty member. All of these research and writing experiences prepare students for the senior thesis, required in most departments and programs, and for the Honors Program.

Support for Research during the Academic Year. The College encourages students to pursue research associated with regular courses and Short Term units, independent studies, and the senior thesis. Funds are available through competitive grant programs that provide financial assistance for student research, including the acquisition of books, data sets, musical scores, supplies and equipment, and travel to research facilities and scholarly conferences. Information and applications are available in the Office of the Dean of the Faculty or on the student research Web site (www.bates.edu/Research-grants.xml).

Summer Research Opportunities. Bates faculty members are active in scholarly research and offer qualified students the opportunity to work with them as research apprentices during the summer. These opportunities offer stipends rather than academic credit and are available directly from faculty researchers funded through faculty grants, or through the Office of the Dean of the Faculty, which manages a number of student summer research grant programs. Students are encouraged to explore off-campus summer research opportunities as well. Funding is available to conduct off-campus fieldwork and to support the work of a student at another research facility.

Service-Learning

At the core of the College's founding mission is the notion that liberal learning, personal growth, and moral development are enhanced through service to others. Service-learning projects not only contribute to a student's academic experience at college — particularly through the reflection and discussion that are necessary components of each project — they also enhance community life through the tangible contributions they make to others. Through service-learning projects conducted in the context of academic courses, during Short Term, or during the summer, students, faculty, and staff learn about themselves, the dynamics of the world in which they live, and those with whom they work. More than half the student body participates in service-learning projects during their college years, and many faculty members have linked service-learning into course curricula.

Integrating community service into the curriculum has been the goal of the Center for Service-Learning since its establishment in 1995. The center is a clearinghouse for faculty, staff, and students interested in pursuing service-learning projects, and for community organizations, schools, and governmental agencies. The center sponsors service-learning efforts in areas as diverse as basic social services; education; literacy programs; municipal government; environmental education and advocacy; health and mental health services; public art, music, dance, and other cultural projects; and legal advocacy. The center oversees a number of grant programs, including the Arthur Crafts Service Awards for students pursuing service-learning projects during the academic year; Vincent Mulford Service Internship and Research Fund grants for service-learning projects during the summer; and Community Work-Study Fellowships, providing service-learning opportunities for eligible students in community agencies during the academic year and the summer. The center also coordinates volunteer opportunities in the Lewiston-Auburn community.

Undergraduate Fellowships

The College supports two special undergraduate fellowship programs designed for highly motivated students who wish to synthesize their academic and life experiences in a unique fellowship of their own design. Fellowships usually take place during the summer, though some occur during the Short Term or during a semester's leave. Fellowships may focus on research, service-learning, career exploration, social activism, or some combination; they always involve a dimension of challenge, personal growth, and transformation.

Otis Fellowships support students whose interests and projects involve the relationship of individuals and societies to the natural world. Otis Fellowships have taken students to the national parks and Native American reservations of the American West, the fishing villages of the Canadian Maritimes, indigenous communities in Bolivia, Mexico and the Arctic, monasteries and farms in Ireland, the high Andes of Peru, the national parks of South Africa, and the steppes of Mongolia (www.bates.edu/Otis-fellowships.xml).

Phillips Students Fellowships provide qualified students with an opportunity to conduct a project of their own design in an international or cross-cultural setting. Recent Phillips Fellows have studied traditional dress in Nigeria, drumming in Ghana, and folk music and dance in France. They have examined return migration from the United States to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, the life stories of Jews who immigrated to Mexico during World War II, the prospects for an African economic union in Ethiopia, women's education in South Africa, and the relationship of art and politics in Cuba and France. Information on Phillips Fellowships can be found on the student research Web site (www.bates.edu/Phillips-Student-Fellowships.xml).

Office of Career Services

The principal charge of the Office of Career Services (OCS) is to help students become aware of their interests, skills, and values, and how these relate to the career possibilities available to them after graduation. The OCS complements academic advising efforts by providing a variety of integrated career services, including career counseling, computerized career-interest testing, a library of career information, employment listings, a 5,000-member career-advisory network, confidential reference service, interviews with prospective employers and with representatives from graduate and professional schools, and links to job and career information through the OCS home page on the Web site (www.bates.edu/career/). Although the Office of Career Services does not function as a job or internship placement agency, students are encouraged to start using the service early in their time at Bates in order to integrate their academic, career, and personal goals into a professional focus.

The Writing Workshop

The College values students' ability to think critically and write clear, vigorous prose. The Writing Workshop helps students assess their needs and hone their writing skills through hourlong tutorials with members of its staff of professional writers. The Writing Workshop is open to any Bates student. Assistance is available for all academic writing, including scientific papers, senior theses, and honors theses. Students may use the workshop to learn to analyze assignments, generate and organize ideas, revise drafts, and polish their writing.

The Mathematics and Statistics Workshop

The Mathematics and Statistics Workshop is dedicated to encouraging quantitative literacy and reasoning, and offers a variety of tutoring and help sessions to all students seeking assistance with mathematical reasoning and comprehension. Two-hour calculus study sessions are conducted by student tutors each weeknight throughout the academic year, and one-on-one assistance is available for students of mathematics as well as economics, environmental studies, geology, physics, psychology, sociology, and other disciplines requiring a command of quantitative or statistical skills.

Information and Library Services

The Library. The George and Helen Ladd Library is one of the most central and important facilities of the College, housing books, periodicals, government publications, musical scores, maps, microforms, sound and video recordings, access to online databases, material in other electronic formats, and other items essential for students and faculty to carry on their research. The library offers a learning environment in which study and research can take place and provides easy access to information in a variety of formats. There are more than 750 study spaces, including individual carrels, lounge and table seating, workstations, listening stations, and viewing stations. A networked computer instruction room and an online reference area are located on the main floor. Campus network jacks at seats and carrels are available on all floors. Quiet study is encouraged throughout the building, except in designated areas where group studying may take place.

The central point of access for information is the online catalog, located on terminals throughout the library and on the campus network. The online system is accessible, as are many electronic resources, through the library's Web site (www.bates.edu/Library/). Expert reference librarians offer instructional and reference services, as well as consultation on an individual basis. The audio and video collections are housed on the ground floor. The microform area provides readers and printers for material in those formats, including newspapers and other periodicals, books, and documents. Current periodicals are available on the main floor.

In all, the library contains more than 560,000 cataloged volumes in print, 300,000 pieces of microform, and 29,000 recordings, and it provides access to thousands of sources of information online. More than 16,000 periodicals are available in electronic form. Ladd Library resources are augmented by the collections of Bowdoin and Colby colleges. The combined cataloged collection has nearly two million bibliographic records. The three college libraries consider these collections as part of the total material available to their students and encourage faculty, students, and staff to use the consortium's resources before searching elsewhere. The BatesCard allows Bates students, faculty, and staff to borrow materials from the Bowdoin and Colby libraries. Through Maine Info Net, Bates users may initiate loan requests for materials at Bowdoin or Colby, as well as other academic and public libraries throughout the state.

The College library was founded in 1863 with fewer than 800 volumes, but had more than 20,000 when Coram Library opened in 1901. In 1883 it was designated the first depository for U.S. government documents in Maine. The library is also a selective depository for documents of the State of Maine. Ladd Library opened in 1973; renovations since 1996 have included redesigned areas for electronic services, full integration of electronic resources, improved seating, additional group study rooms, and a more convenient location for the campus computing system's Help Desk.

Archives and Special Collections. The Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library fosters research and scholarship by encouraging access to Bates College records and other historical materials by students and faculty, as well as scholars from the community at large. These collections provide students from Bates and elsewhere opportunities to perform historical research using primary documentary material. The collections have three major divisions.

The Bates College Archives serves as the official repository of records, publications, photographs, honors theses, and other materials that document the history of the College from its founding in 1855 to the present, and that have permanent administrative, legal, fiscal, and historical value.

The Rare Book and Manuscript Collections include publications pertaining to the Freewill Baptists in Maine and New England; nineteenth-century French history and literature; fine-press books published in Maine; Judaica; nineteenth-century books on natural history, particularly ornithology; and the papers of individuals generally associated with Bates College or with Freewill Baptists. Among the latter are the letters of Lydia Coombs, a Freewill Baptist missionary in India, and the papers of J.S. (Josiah Spooner) Swift, a Freewill Baptist minister and publisher in Farmington, Maine. The Dorothy Freeman Collection contains a large body of correspondence with the biologist, writer, and conservationist Rachel Carson.

The Edmund S. Muskie Collection consists of almost all the extant records of the life and work of Edmund S. Muskie (1914-1996), a 1936 Bates graduate who dominated Maine politics from the mid-1950s to 1981 and became a national leader for environmental protection, government reform, and fiscal responsibility. In addition, the Archives and Special Collections Library holds such related collections as the records of the Nestle Infant Formula Audit Commission, the Maine Commission on Legal Needs, and the gubernatorial papers of James B. Longley. The library also houses the Edmund S. Muskie Oral History Project, including collections of taped interviews with individuals who knew Muskie or who offer insights into the events and conditions that shaped his life and times.

Computing and Media Services. Bates College offers a fully integrated campus computing network that supports Macintosh, Windows, and UNIX platforms with access to Internet servers on the Bates campus. Computer labs are equipped with more than 175 workstations clustered in Coram Library, Pettigrew Hall, Hathorn Hall, Pettengill Hall, Dana Chemistry Hall, Carnegie Science Hall, and Ladd Library. Special facilities include interactive classrooms with large video screens for group instruction, graphics workstations, plotters, color laser printers, scanners, and analog and digital videotape editing machines for producing broadcast-quality video. Information and Library Services staff offer workshops in research and computing skills.

The College's computer systems continue to expand in response to user needs. All students are assigned a user ID that affords access to the Bates computers and network services, including the library catalog, network storage, and electronic mail. The Bates College Web site (www.bates.edu) provides the Internet community with access to Bates information, links Bates users with the Internet, and gives students access to on-campus services, including online registration, access to numerous library research databases, the College Catalog, Web pages for specific courses, information from Help Desk Services, campus employment and career services information, student grant guidelines, and students' personal home pages. Through the Bates proxy server, many on-campus services and library databases are available to Bates students and faculty as they work and study throughout the world. Video conferencing among Bates, Bowdoin, and Colby colleges, with connections to off-campus locations, is also available.

Many departments and programs offer courses that use computing extensively. In economics, for example, integration of theoretical and empirical work requires computer use for statistical analysis and modeling. In psychology, data sets are generated to simulate research studies that students then analyze and interpret. As a member of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), Bates offers access to a growing number of social science studies. Data from ICPSR and other economic time-series databases as well as data collected by faculty and student researchers are analyzed in statistical packages including SPSS, SAS, and MINITAB. The Department of Music uses computers to teach composition and to introduce graphics applications, and music and art students use them to create multimedia works. Students of foreign languages make extensive use of the computer laboratory in Hathorn Hall. Currently, more than 100 workstations are utilized in laboratory settings in the biology, chemistry, classics, economics, foreign language, geology, mathematics, music, physics and astronomy, psychology, and sociology departments. A significant and ever-increasing number of Bates classrooms are equipped with high-speed connections, workstations, and digital projection and sound equipment.

Students may also develop their computing skills by working as technology assistants or technicians for Help Desk Services or Network and Infrastructure Services, on Web production, or on faculty projects.

The Laboratories

Laboratories and studios for student and faculty use are located throughout the campus. Chemistry and biochemistry laboratories and instruments are situated in Dana Chemistry Hall. Biology, environmental studies, geology, neuroscience, and physics laboratories are housed in Carnegie Science Hall. Astronomy students and faculty use the Stephens Observatory with its 0.32-meter reflecting telescope and the Spitz A-3 planetarium projector, also located in Carnegie. Archeology and psychology laboratories are housed in Pettengill Hall.

The Department of Classical and Romance Languages and Literatures and the Department of German, Russian, and East Asian Languages and Literatures make extensive use of the Language Resource Center in Hathorn Hall. This facility offers a variety of language-specific software to enhance classroom activities, word processing, and World Wide Web exploration. Versions of Netscape are available in Chinese, Japanese, French, Spanish, German, and Russian. The center is equipped with fifteen computers with AV screens and VHS players. The instructor's station controls a video projector for classroom displays.

Resources for the Arts

In Pettigrew Hall, theater, dance, and performance art students use the proscenium stage of the Miriam Lavinia Schaeffer Theatre, which seats more than 300. The Department of Theater and Rhetoric conducts experimental and studio work in the smaller facilities of the Gannett Theatre.

The Olin Arts Center houses art studios for painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, and ceramics. It also provides the Department of Music with music studios and rehearsal rooms for individuals and groups. An acoustically superior 300-seat concert hall in the building is the site of performances throughout the year, ranging from student thesis recitals and weekly Noonday Concerts to special appearances by internationally known musicians.

The Bates College Museum of Art

The Bates College Museum of Art is located in the Olin Arts Center. Established in 1953, the Museum maintains a small but significant permanent collection of American and European works of art, including the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection, featuring paintings, drawings, personal papers, and memorabilia of this great early-twentieth century modernist, a native of Lewiston. The Museum of Art is an important academic resource, supporting teaching and learning across the curriculum. It is also a leading arts and cultural center in the region. In two floors of galleries the museum exhibits the work of historical and contemporary artists; in addition to diverse group and solo shows, the museum hosts an annual exhibition of work by senior art majors. Lectures, tours, studio workshops, internships, and school programs are offered through the museum's education program.

The Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area and the Bates College Coastal Center at Shortridge

The College, through the Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area (BMMCA) Corporation, is the long-term lessee of 574 acres of undeveloped barrier seacoast located about fifteen miles south of Bath, Maine; the College has been entrusted with the management of this rare property. The land lies between two tidal rivers, the Morse and the Sprague, and includes more than 150 acres of salt marsh, granite ledges, and the woods of Morse Mountain, adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean. The College conducts educational programs, scientific research, and literary study consistent with the conservation of the ecological and aesthetic values of the property in its natural state and with the protection of its ecosystems. The principal researchers are Bates College faculty and students, as well as scientists from other educational and research institutions. Public visitation is permitted as long as it is conducted in ways consistent with the area's mission and does not interfere with the quiet natural beauty and relative solitude of the place.

Adjacent to the Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area, the Bates College Coastal Center at Shortridge includes a seventy-acre woodland habitat, a ten-acre freshwater pond, a study and retreat center, and a field research laboratory. Two buildings on the property provide meeting accommodations, living quarters for student and faculty researchers, and a wet laboratory.

The Shortridge Center is primarily used for academic purposes, particularly research associated with the Meetinghouse Pond environs and the BMMCA. The facility provides a base location and support for research activities of Bates faculty and students. The Office of the Dean of the Faculty oversees the academic uses of the Center. On occasion, the Center is used as a retreat center for College programs, departments, and agents of the College, including authorized student organizations and selected College outreach efforts. The facility's size normally limits retreats, conferences, and meetings to thirty persons. These uses of the Shortridge Center are overseen by the Director of the BMMCA and the Bates Coastal Center at Shortridge.

Confidentiality of Education Records

1. FERPA affords the right to inspect and review the student's education records within forty-five days of the day the College receives a request for access. Students should submit to the registrar, dean of students, chair of the academic department or program, or other appropriate official written requests that identify the records they wish to inspect. The College official makes arrangements for access and notifies the student of the time and place where the records may be inspected. If the records are not maintained by the College official to whom the request is submitted, the official advises the student of the correct official to whom the request should be addressed.

2. FERPA affords the right to request the amendment of the student's education records that the student believes are inaccurate or misleading. A student may ask the College to amend a record that he or she believes is inaccurate or misleading. The student should write the College official responsible for the record, clearly identify the part of the record he or she wants changed, and specify why it is inaccurate or misleading. If the College decides not to amend the record as requested by the student, the College notifies the student of the decision and advises the student of his or her right to a hearing regarding the request for amendment. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures is provided to the student when notified of the right to a hearing.

3. FERPA affords the right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in the student's education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent. One exception that permits disclosure without consent is disclosure to College officials, or officials of institutions with which the College has consortial agreements, with legitimate educational interests. A College official is a person employed by Bates in an administrative, supervisory, academic, or support-staff position (including Security and Health Center staff); a person or company with whom the College has contracted (such as an attorney, auditor, or collection agent); a person serving on the Board of Trustees; or a student serving on an official committee, such as the Committee on Student Conduct, or assisting another College official in performing his or her tasks. A College official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibility.

4. FERPA affords the right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the College to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the office that administers FERPA is Family Policy Compliance Office, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20202-4605.

Bates College reserves the right to refuse to permit a student to inspect those records excluded from the FERPA definition of education records and to deny transcripts or copies of records not required to be made available by FERPA if the student has an unpaid financial obligation to the College or if there is an unresolved disciplinary action against him or her. Fees are not assessed for search and retrieval of the records; however, there may be a charge for copying and postage.

The Office of the Registrar and Student Financial Services makes available copies of the federal regulations and the institutional policy on educational records as well as additional information about the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.

Directory Information. Bates identifies the following as directory information: name; class; address (campus, home, and e-mail); telephone listings; major and secondary-concentration fields of study; participation in officially recognized sports, extracurricular activities, and off-campus study programs; dates of attendance; degrees, honors, and awards received from the College; and individually identifiable photographs and electronic images of the student solicited or maintained directly by Bates as part of the educational record.