905 students who drudged their way through five semesters of polishing their GPAs will no longer be recognized for their academic achievement due to UNC Wilmington’s recent removal of its Chancellor’s Achievement Award.

On Tuesday, Oct. 8, UNCW Provost Denise Battles sent out an email to previous recipients of the award, notifying them that not only will they discontinue the award, but also remove the $500 scholarship as well.

“UNC Wilmington will no longer offer the Chancellor’s Achievement Award recognition,” the email stated. “If you are a previous recipient of this award, you will no longer be eligible for this academic distinction or its monetary gift.”

Before the removal, the university reserved the Chancellor’s Achievement Award for students who demonstrated top-notch academic performance. For earning straight As in one semester, a student would receive a congratulatory email and a framed certificate. If students continued to maintain an A average for five semesters, the university would award them with a $500 scholarship. For some, that $500 would go towards paying off debt.

“I had already budgeted in where that money was going to go,” said Leslie McLean, a former recipient of the Chancellor’s Achievement Award. Last spring semester was McLean’s fifth in earning the award.

McLean, an education major, read the email at a time when she was working at a elementary school. All it took was the first line to understand it spelled bad news.

“I had to walk out of the room, because I was so upset,” McLean said. “All I did was read the first line. I didn’t even read the entire email. I did that at the end of the day, and I got a little bit angrier.”

Soon after reading the email, she sublimated her frustration by drafting a petition to overturn the removal. While she admits that it started out as a joke, her peers encouraged her to invest sincere effort into polishing it. She uploaded online shortly.

“It launched Friday morning. We only have 126 signatures so far, though,” McLean said.

The petition titled “Immediately Reinstate the Chancellor’s Achievement Award Program” details the award’s importance to students and the school.

While the discontinuation of the scholarship poses as a detriment to students, McLean finds it more disheartening that her academic achievement will no longer be recognized.

“It would be one thing if they were just cutting the scholarship,” McLean said. “Yeah, I would be upset, because it would be my turn to get it—but I wouldn’t be making this petition.”

“We always support UNCW students’ right to be heard on any campus matter,” said Tara Romanella, UNCW media relations specialist, in an email.

In the email, UNCW states that cutting the award is a necessity to prepare for its budget. However, factoring in a non-monetary figure into the budget, such as recognition, obfuscates the school’s motives to remove the award entirely.

“I don’t want them to cut things that they don’t feel like finding in the budget,” McLean said. “Because it doesn’t state that they tried to find it in the budget. It was in lieu of doing a budget.”

Before the award was cut, 47 students were eligible for a monetary award.