Admissions Committee
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Date Originally Created: 04/09/2012
Revised: 08/30/2019
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1. Description
The Cumberland University Admissions Committee meets to review and discuss prospective student applicants that do not meet minimum admission criteria or who have special circumstances to be considered.
2. By-Laws
2.1. Role
2.1.1. Review files of students who do not meet minimum University entrance criteria to determine admission status.
2.1.2. Provide caveats for admission that include but are not limited to sound educational and instructional philosophy.
2.2. University Committee Development
2.2.1. The Cumberland University Admissions Committee shall be advisory to the Leadership Committee on the development of committees and subcommittees that will facilitate the assessments and improvements of the University.
2.3. Committee Guidelines and By-Law Interpretation
2.3.1. All decisions made by the Cumberland University Admissions Committee will be made by a simple majority vote of the members, as long as a quorum of voting members exists.
2.3.1.1. A quorum exists when a simple majority of voting members is participating in the decision and at least one voting member is a faculty appointment.
2.3.2. Any amendment made to the Cumberland University Admissions Committee by-laws will come at the approval of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Vice President of Enrollment Management, in consultation with the Executive Director of Enrollment Services.
3. Committee Composition
3.1. Composition
3.1.1. The Cumberland University Admissions Committee will consist of five (5) members of the Cumberland University community.
3.2. Chair/Secretary
3.2.1. The Executive Director of Enrollment Services will serve as the Chair/Secretary of the committee.
3.2.2. The Executive Director of Enrollment Services has a permanent appointment to the committee.
3.2.3. It is the role of the Committee Chair/Secretary to communicate, at minimum, monthly with the Cumberland University President to present policies and recommendations made by the Cumberland University Admissions Committee.
3.2.4. It is the role of the Committee Chair/Secretary to ensure that proceedings of this committee’s works are appropriately communicated to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and communicated with the faculty.
3.2.5. It is the role of the Committee Chair/Secretary to guide the operations of the Cumberland University Admissions Committee.
3.2.6. It is the role of the Committee Chair/Secretary to record, maintain, and appropriately post minutes for Committee meetings.
3.2.6.1. Minutes for Committee meetings will be presented to the Cumberland University Admissions Committee membership and approved prior to posting to the University.
3.2.7. In the absence of the Executive Director of Enrollment Services, the Associate or Assistant Director of Admissions may serve as the chair/secretary of the committee.
3.3. Faculty
3.3.1. Two members of the committee will be chosen from the faculty at large by the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
3.4. Staff
3.4.1. Two members of the committee will be chosen from the staff-at-large by the Executive Director of Enrollment Services.
3.5. Terms
3.5.1. Other than the Executive Director of Enrollment Services, each representative will selected at the beginning of each academic semester.
3.5.2. The Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs (for Faculty) and the Executive Director of Enrollment Services (for Staff) may choose to roll appointments on the committee from semester to semester.
3.5.3. In cases where committee members vacate a position, special appointment will be made to fill the open position by the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs (for Faculty) and the Executive Director of Enrollment Services (for Staff).
4. Decisions
4.1. Based on information provided to the University for the purpose of admissions to the University, the Cumberland University Admissions Committee can determine if a student has been 1) accepted to the University, 2) denied admission to the University, or 3) placed in a pending-hold status.
4.1.1. Students placed in pending-hold status will be notified of their status and any requirements they will need to complete.
4.1.2. Students placed in pending-hold status will not be reviewed by the committee again until requirements are met or other information is received to grant them automatic acceptance.
4.2.Congruent with the established role of the committee, admission decisions may be based on analyses of the relationship between an applicant's academic variables (high school GPA, college GPA, ACT/SAT scores, other testing modules and scores) and retention and persistence data at Cumberland. The chair of the Admissions Committee may present a slate of candidates for admission consideration to the Admissions Committee whose academic variables correlate to the retention and persistence data analyses. The slate of candidates will be derived by the chair of the committee solely on numerical values of the academic data, to prevent any violation of EEOC, Title IX, federal, or state law prohibiting discrimination against protected classes of individuals.
4.3. Should a student be denied admission, the student will be notified of the denial. The student may request an appeal of the denial directly to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
4.3.1. The student must appeal the denial within thirty (30) days of the original denial.
4.3.2. The Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs may uphold the denial by the Admissions Committee or approve the student for acceptance.
4.3.3. Upon review of the appeal, the decision of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs is final. No further appeals for admission to the University exist.
5. Committee Calendar
5.1. The Cumberland University Admissions Committee will meet on a weekly basis unless a meeting is not deemed necessary by the Chair.
5.2. The Cumberland University Admissions Committee may conduct sessions via electronic correspondence.
5.3. The Cumberland University Admissions Committee may conduct sessions outside of regularly scheduled meetings when the circumstances arise at the discretion of the Chair.
6. Admissions Special Circumstances Sub-committee
6.1. The primary role of the Admissions Special Circumstances Sub-committee of the Admissions Committee is to review the application and criminal background check report and approve or deny the applicant’s admission to the university.
6.1.1. The sub-committee will be comprised of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Vice President of Enrollment Services.
6.1.2. The decision of the Special Circumstances Sub-committee is final and not subject to appeal.