Administration possibly forcing student out In my (mathematics) PhD program, the administration has started to crack down on students who are not making their way through the program in a timely manner. This has only started in the last year, and is being aimed mostly at the lower years students who have not passed their qualification exams yet.

The problem is, there is a third year student who has not passed all of their qualifying exams, but is doing good research, and has a published paper, has an advisor, and so on.

They might pass their quals now (we offer them at the beginning and the end of the year), but if they does not, the executive officer of our has made it clear that they will be kicked out (they are one of the six, out of twelve, third years under such threat). This seems ridiculous to several of us, since they are working much harder and making more progress than many of the older students.

Several of us have decided that this outcome is not acceptable, given the circumstances. How should we proceed, if they do not pass the two quals they need to? At this point we are planning to draft a joint email. Should their advisor cosign this, or would a separate approach be better? There are several other faculty who would cosign as well, if that is relevant. Are there other actions we could take?
Many institutions put requirements for progress for doctoral students. This has been going on forever and isn't special to your institution. It is only unfair if the people have inadequate notice after a rule change. 

The problem, for the institution, is that such students use resources that might be better applied elsewhere. It is a judgement call. Some places have very strict rules and if you don't meet them, you must move on. 

State sponsored universities, in particular have this problem as many of the funds are from public sources. A private university (by the US definition) can have a bit more freedom. 

There is probably little pressure you can apply as a student, unless you can convince a large part of the faculty to oppose such a rule. You are making a judgement, of course. It may be valid or not, but others have their own judgements to make as well. 

Sad to say, if a person isn't making progress it may be that they should do something else, instead. My preference is to let them see the issue and make their own decision rather than having it imposed on them, but the people who need to balance budgets may have a different view. 

I once had to make a difficult academic decision and wound up moving to a different institution that turned out to be better for me in every way. It isn't the end of the world.