FSEC discusses proposal to tighten policy on awarding 'R' grades

A resolution outlining specific principles that would govern requests for "R" grades after the deadline was presented by the senate's Grading Committee.

Current policy allows a student who experiences extraordinary personal circumstances-such as a lengthy illness-to resign from a specific course without a Q.P.A. penalty up to 11 weeks after the beginning of the semester for first-time freshmen and first-time transfer students, and up to eight weeks for all others. The student must have supporting documentation and the approval of the instructor of the course.

The proposal from the Grading Committee would require students seeking administrative resignations after the deadline to resign from all courses taken during the semester.

Some executive committee members objected to an "all-or-nothing" provision in the resolution, noting that it would prove a hardship for students, while adding significantly to the workload of faculty members who would be inundated by requests for incompletes from students who otherwise would seek "R" grades.

Requests have accelerated
Thomas Schroeder, associate professor of learning and instruction and chair of the Grading Committee, said the number of students applying for "R" grades has accelerated, with many appearing to do so retroactively to "clean up their transcripts."

He quoted from an e-mail message he received from Karen Noonan, associate vice provost for undergraduate education, in which Noonan told Schroeder that there have been "excessive requests" for administrative resignations and that students "appear to be cleaning up their transcripts."

She cited one student who had applied for an "R" grade, not for one or two semesters, but for five semesters.

"Our feeling is that many of these requests for retroactive 'Rs,' while they may be supported by some sort of documentation, are probably not all legitimate requests," Schroeder said. "And both the nature of the requests that have been put forward, and the number of them suggest that there ought to be some sort of tightening up of the policy."

Schroeder noted that during the 1995-96 academic year, students requested 1,500 'Rs,' 1,300 of which were approved.

Deadlines would be set
Under the resolution developed by the Grading Committee, "R" grades would be awarded only in cases where students make a "timely election" to resign from one or more courses. And in cases where students wish to apply for administrative resignation after the deadline, resignations only would be considered on a "complete-semester, or all-or-none basis."

Schroeder said the rationale behind the "all-or-nothing" stipulation is that if there is a legitimate case in which a student is unable to complete some of the courses in a certain semester, he or she may apply for an incomplete and "complete the uncompletable ones in a timely fashion with something worked out between the student and the instructor."

But if students seek to withdraw from courses after the fact "because they want to clean up their record," they should be forced to withdraw from all courses, including those in which they have received satisfactory grades, taken during the semester, he said.

Several FSEC members questioned the wisdom of the "all-or-nothing" stipulation in the resolution.

Michael Frisch, professor of history and American Studies, said that while he favors tightening up procedures, particularly at the administrative end, "I can think of a lot of cases in which I don't see the compelling logic of the all-or-nothing thing."

From a faculty member's view, he added, the problem with handing out grades of incomplete is that there are many courses, such as seminars, that require a lot of group interaction. In effect, faculty members would have to "virtually reinvent the course" for an individual student, Frisch said.

In the case of students who may have compelling, complex personal circumstances, "I'm not sure what we gain by saying to that student, 'You either have to litter your record with a lot of 'Fs',' or force the faculty member to extraordinary measures, or punt the entire semester when they might feel, (despite) some family emergency or health problem, that they're able to complete one course or two courses and in that sense maintain their connection to the university," he said.

The all-or-nothing clause is "too iron-clad; you have to allow some flexibility," said Stan Bruckenstein, A. Conger Goodyear Professor of Chemistry.

Maureen Jameson, associate professor of modern languages and literatures, agreed that the clause was "problematic." Since faculty are not required to agree to give out incompletes, there may be students who have a problem after the "R" deadline has passed, but who have done enough work in two or three of their courses to "get a B, even if they do nothing for the next three or four weeks.

"I think we're forcing choices that are really too draconian," she said. Jameson noted that awarding incomplete grades would require a faculty member either to run a tutorial, or to refuse to award an incomplete, which would force a student who would have passed the course to lose a complete semester.

Robert Hoeing, associate professor of modern languages and literatures, also opposed the clause.

"There are very legitimate cases. I think the number of students who it hurts, or would be penalized unjustly, far exceed the number who would be penalized justly," he said.

William Baumer, professor of philosophy and a member of the Grading Committee, disagreed, noting that he teaches large survey courses in which he receives two or three requests for administrative leave every semester. Inevitably, he said, the documentation he receives states that the student is physically or mentally unable to complete the course.

"If the student is physically or mentally unable to continue studying in the course, what's separate about my course from any other (the student is taking) is something I can't figure," Baumer said. "I think the all-or-nothing rule is very appropriate in every such administrative resignation request that I can see. Otherwise, it is just flushing the transcript."

The FSEC voted to send the resolution to the full Faculty Senate for discussion at its April 8 meeting.