The UC Davis faculty wants students to hurry up and graduate, but the question is how. The fact that some statistics show UC Davis students are second only to UCLA in the enrolled time they take to obtain a degree concerns both the UC Davis faculty and administration, according to those at the Monday Representative Assembly meeting. Campus statistics show the 1997-98 UC Davis graduates averaged 4.3 years in the total time they were in school (including the time they stopped out) or 13.1 enrolled quarters. (See chart.) UC Davis' inefficient graduation rate became an issue during the 1997 semester-conversion debate on campus when it was pointed out that the Office of the President rewards more efficient campuses. In 1997, for instance, because UC Davis students were taking an average of 13.5 units a quarter, less than the 15-unit standard used by the UC system, the campus received no state funding for about 1,400 students. After that semester debate nearly two years ago, the Academic Senate, led by Academic Senate Chair Bryan Miller, pledged to change the system. (Miller died suddenly last fall, but the effort continued.) The resulting plan proposed on Monday would have forced students to take more units to meet the minimum progress level. It was defeated when members of the Representative Assembly said it was too complicated and hard to track. A simpler plan to boost the minimum-progress definition from the current average of 12 to 13 units will be considered at the next assembly meeting June 8. Still others believe the problem won't be solved by just requiring students to take more units. "We're asking students to remedy a systemic problem," said communication lecturer John Vohs, who stepped out of his role as Academic Senate chair to speak. Students face an entrenched conservative climate in which faculty advisors tell them to limit their unit load in order to do well in each class, Vohs said. An "aggressive" internship program, a shortage of classes and the undervaluation of courses are other reasons Davis students take so long to graduate, Vohs said. Other faculty members suggested that students take a longer time to graduate because they change their major or can't go to summer school because they depend on summer jobs. Carol Wall, vice chancellor for student affairs, pointed out that UC Santa Cruz has solved the minimum-progress problem by valuing all courses at five units and having students take at least three classes per quarter. UC Berkeley requires students to take at least 13 units per semester. UC Davis' time-to-degree statistics have been gradually improving over the past five years, according to Art Amos, coordinator for information and analysis for the Student Affairs Research and Information Office. "Our graduation rate is very good, but it takes a long time for our students to get there," he said. That inefficient time-to-degree rate hurts the campus, reported Hank Segall, professor of molecular biosciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine and a member of the senate Committee on Educational Policy. He presented the proposed the change in minimum progress that was ultimately defeated 44-18. But while shortening the time to degree is expected to increase the state teaching funds for the campus, the financial improvement may take up to three years after the change is noted, Segall said. Administrators at the meeting voiced their concerns about the complicated nature of a proposed sliding-scale minimum progress. Students would not be making "minimum progress" and would face expulsion if they did not have an average of 36 units passed after the first three quarters plus a summer, 76 units passed after six quarters plus two summers, 120 units passed after nine quarters plus three summers and 165 units passed after 12 quarters plus a summer. In order to ease students into taking more units each year, a sliding scale was proposed. While first-year students would need to average 12 units per quarter, by the second year the minimum average would be boosted to 12.66 units per quarter. The minimum average for the third year would be 13.33 and for the fourth year 13.75 units per quarter. But keeping track of the changes might be a problem, said Registrar Jack Farrell, who reported his office spent the past year programming the software to track the current standard of 12 units per quarter as minimum progress. "I don't know how long it will take to reprogram for this," he said. The proposed change would also affect students who come to UC Davis as pre-medicine or other science majors only to find that their talents lie elsewhere after failing their first chemistry course, said Merna Villarejo, professor of microbiology. Once students lost their momentum, the proposed change would make it difficult to get back on track, agreed Fred Wood, associate dean of undergraduate education in the College of Letters and Science. He reported that at any one time, 12 percent to 14 percent of the students in the College of Letters and Science are on academic probation or subject to dismissal. While summer school is an option to make up for lost units, some students depend on working during those months. In fact, the expectation that students will have summer jobs is built into financial aid packages, Wood said. Economics professor Kevin Hoover concluded that it was important to increase the number of units for minimum progress but that the proposed change in the campus's minimum progress requirement was too complicated. He proposed an amendment that would simplify the change by increasing the current requirement of 12 units per quarter to 13. To give a five-day notice for the amendment, the assembly will need to vote on it at its next meeting. In other items, the assembly: Accepted a report from the Committee on Committees that had appointed Vohs as chair and Kathryn Radke, associate professor of animal science, as vice chair and acting secretary until Aug. 31. The appointments followed changes in the senate bylaws that allowed for succession. When the chair was left empty with chemistry professor Miller's sudden death last fall, the senate learned it had no procedure to appoint successors. Appointed a special committee on transportation and parking to advise the administration. The committee is charged with studying the administration, funding and oversight of the transportation, parking and related services on campus. Members of the Committee on Faculty Welfare have been concerned about plans to triple parking fees over the next five years to pay for improvements.