Note: Article updated on Oct. 1, 2006
The dwindling retention rate of high-performing female students at Ohio University has sparked concern at Student Senate, said Lee Robbins, women's affairs commissioner.
We haven't thus far identified specific causes
said Patrick Heery, academic affairs commissioner. Future research will examine the causes, he said.
Some reasons for the low retention rate among high-performing women have been generally founded.
These women are feeling ostracized Robbins said. They're feeling as though they don't connect with the campus even though they are doing well.
Exit surveys have been conducted to ask females who have already left the university to cite reasons for their departure. One prevalent answer regarded family problems, Heery said.
There was a problem in the family that they felt they needed to take care of he said. Females
statistically speaking
perhaps
feel a stronger commitment to family.
Heery also suggested there might be a problem with networking.
My guess is that the causes are very complex and many
Heery said.
Among women who left OU in 2003, 71 percent had a GPA of 2.0 or higher; among men, this number was 53 percent, according data on the Office of Institutional Research Web site.
The first-year retention rate in 2004 was 82 percent for all females and 80 percent for all males, according to the data.
Robbins met Monday with Wendy Merb-Brown, director of learning communities on campus, to discuss the option of creating a learning community for high-performing females to deter the problem. They discussed the pros and cons of creating a learning community and decided to pursue other options, said Robbins.
Such learning communities might present more problems than solutions, Robbins said, adding that they might multiply the feeling females have of being ostracized.
Heery agreed that the learning community is not a route Student Senate would like to take. Senate will be conducting focus groups to find the best options, he said.
Some of these options include setting up a leadership class taught by an outstanding faculty member or several outstanding faculty members
Robbins said.
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