For students re-taking classes in which they failed or simply wanted to do better, UB's grading policies have been a saving grace: both grades show up on your transcript, but only the latter in your GPA.
On Tuesday, a faculty committee proposed wide-ranging revisions to grading guidelines that could, among other things, change how GPAs are calculated for repeated classes.
The reforms are part of an effort from the Faculty Senate Executive Committee to improve UB's grading policies. Officials plan to vote next month on these reformations, which address incomplete grades, repeating a course, and Academic Second Chance Policy procedures.
For many classes, there are no set standards for incomplete courses. Whereas some professors are lenient to students' individual cases, others employ strictly across entire classes.
"I have pretty inflexible requirements about incompletes, late work, et cetera," said Larry Hawk, associate professor of psychology. "My hope is that by applying my policies uniformly across students, I treat everyone fairly."
To try and create a more uniform policy, the Faculty Senate's Grading Committee proposed Tuesday specific dates for when incomplete courses must be fulfilled. If the committee's suggestions are adopted, undergraduate students must complete courses within 12 months of being granted an incomplete.
Graduate students must complete courses within 15 months.
For students who finish classes but do so in poor standing, a current option has been to replace the grade by retaking the class. Hawk said he disagrees with the current repetition policy.
"If I'm an employer or a potential graduate student advisor, I want to be able to look at someone's GPA and know from that what their grades have been like," Hawk said, "rather than needing to wade through their transcript to search out any D or F that might have been replaced by retaking a course."
Dennis Malone, SUNY distinguished service professor and interim chair of the electrical engineering department, disagreed with the repetition policy, but was more flexible than Hawk in offering an alternative.
"I believe students should be able to repeat a course once, and that must be the very next time the course is offered, and then the grade stands," Malone said.
If passed, the changes made to the repetition policy would make any attempt to replace a previous grade count as attempted credits, which would then be calculated into a student's overall GPA. In other words, the first grade would still factor into a student's GPA.
The right to repeat a course would be at the discretion of the professor.
Some students argue that outside influences should be considered as determining factors for late work and a student's inability to complete a course.
"I think the important thing in how lenient or not professors are with late papers are students who work full or close to full-time," said Josh Isralowitz, a graduate mathematics student. "That should affect whether or not the professor should be more or less flexible."
Others said that schoolwork and a student's life outside the university should have no influence on each other.
"If you choose to be in school, then that is your priority," said Shawn Olizarowicz, a senior English major. "If every other student has to have assignments in by a certain date, then it should be equal for everyone."
Other revisions discussed at the FSEC meeting included the Academic Second Chance Policy, which wipes the slate entirely clean for academically troubled students.
Under the proposal, an applicant would have to wait five semesters instead of four. All of the previous courses and academic work completed by the student would remain on his or her transcript, regardless of the grades. However, the previous grades would not affect the student's GPA earned during the second chance.
Students can only apply for the Second Chance Policy three times, and are only eligible to receive an Academic Second Chance once in their college career.
Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
