Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
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11-30-18 01:32 PM - Post#267660
In response to DoCtoR62
FWIW, 3-5% of Bucknell graduates over the past four years have taken more than four years to complete their degrees, so it's not like there aren't other 5th-year students on campus.
But I think all of those 3-5% fall into a few categories: (a) five year engineers, or dual majors; (b) took one or more semesters off for various reasons health, family issues, etc.); or, occasionally (c) had academic issues and ended up with not enough credits.
For athletes, PL rules reqire a legitimate academic reason for a 5th year, and it appears Bucknell carries those rules to an extreme. If there is any hint that the key reason is sports participation, it seems like it is a non-starter.
Colgate, Lehigh, Lafayette, Holy Cross, and Fordham have literally had 50+ 5th year football players over the past 15-18 years. Bucknell literally has had none. Also you may recall it took over a year to get permission for both Tyree and Fitz to get a 5th year. That didn't work out so well academically, so I am not sure we will ever see that again. Also the administration didn't cooperate in letting one of the better Bison wrestlers of all-time, Tom Sleigh, come back for a 5th year and he was forced to go elsewhere. He is now nationally ranked - but not for Bucknell. Etc.
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