D grade returns after seven years
By MELODY WARD
Of the Emerald
Students often find that the most impor
tant communication they receive from pro
fessors comes in the form of grades. And
this fall, the D and F grades will be reinsti
tuted once again after a seven-year ab
sence.
The faculty abandoned use of D and F
marks in the fall of 1970 and implemented
the "no pass" grade in their place. Since
then, students have made the choice at
registration to take courses either graded or
pass/fail. Although D and F are back, stu
dents will continue to have this option.
"Instructors are hesitant to give a student
a ‘no pass' grade because they feel they
have no way of making an academic
judgement,” explains acting registrar
Wanda Johnson, “so Y’s were developed
as an alternative to the N grade.”
A Y mark means "no basis for grade,”
and is used when the instructor has nothing
to evaluate. Similarly, an X may be given
when the instructor does not report a grade.
"Incompletes are always between the in
structor and the student," Johnson says.
According to the University grading system,
a mark of I can be given to a student whose
work is satisfactory, but who has not yet
finished some "minor yet essential re
quirements."
Johnson suggests students put the con
ditions for making up a particular incom
plete into writing. "This is in the student's
best interest in case the professor leaves
and also because that way there is no doubt
what arrangements were agreed upon,”
Johnson says. “Then there’s no confusion
later on.”
Incompletes should not be taken lightly.
“Students should take great care about the
number of I's, Y’s and W’s (withdrawn
mark) that appear on their record,” John
son warns, “not only in terms of remaining
at the University but also for transfer pur
poses, graduate school applications and fu
ture employment. An I or a Y can stay on
your record forever."
Johnson explains that while a few such
marks won't make any difference, if there
appears to be a pattern of them throughout
a student's record, they can hurt chances
for admission into many graduate schools
and that sometimes prospective employers
will take them into consideration.
In the case of graduate students, the
rules differ. To receive credit for a graduate
course that has been graded Incomplete, a
student has only until the last day of the
immediately following term to make it up. If
graduate incompletes are not taken care of
in time, credit for the course will not be
counted toward advanced degree require
ments without permission from the
graduate school dean.
Also, any changes of grades, including
removal of incompletes, must be filed within
30 days after a degree is granted.
In any case it is up to the instructor to
change an I or Y mark. If a student doesn’t
make good an Incomplete the instructor
may change it to a grade anyway. But
Johnson is quick to point out that the ad
ministration does not change any marks
without a faculty member’s request. “Some
schools do automatically,” she says. “They
call it an administrative' failure.”
So what of the W mark? You’d think that if
a student chooses to withdraw from a
course, no one would really care except the
instructor. But Johnson again reminds stu
dents that “making a habit of W is a poor
practice that speaks badly of one’s
academic behavior.”
“Always check the Time Schedule of
Classes for important dates like the dead
line for dropping a class without having it be
recorded,” she says. “Read it well — it will
save a lot of problems,” she advises.
As for the return of D and F, Johnson
thinks it will retard inflated grades a little.
“The University has a fine reputation, but it
takes constant vigilance,” she says. “Some
schools call Pass grades lazy C’s, others
evaluate them as a neutral mark. The origi
nal intent was to allow exploration into new
areas where a student had no previous ex
perience.”
So, keep those thoughts in mind when
deciding what grade option you wish to take
for courses. Each department and school
within the University has its own require
ments and regulations regarding non
graded courses for majors. And you may
want to transfer to a school that is not using
the Pass/Fail system. In that instance,
some of your hours may be cut or not
counted at all.
Fund-raising
rules altered i
The University has amended its
administrative memos governing
fund raising by student groups
and the use of campus facilities.
As amended, the memos now
require all student groups to coor
dinate and request approval for
fund raising from the director of
the EMU. All other campus groups
will be required to coordinate
fund-raising efforts through the Di
rector of Development.
The new amendments also give
classes, registration and aca
demic use clear priority in all use
of campus facilities.
Memos dealing with the use of
McArthur Court, the University's
largest indoor arena, now provide
for cooperative scheduling by the
Department of Intercollegiate Ath
letics and the EMU.
Under the new amendments,
the director of the EMU has the
priority to schedule events in Mac
Court at any time the facility is not
in use for athletic purposes. And
the Department of Intercollegiate
Athletics is entitled to schedule
non-athletic events in the facility at t
Thanksgiving, winter, spring, and I
summer vacation periods.
Essays fight
exploitation
Friends of Animals, Inc., a New
York-based national humane
conservation organization, today
announced a scholarship prog
ram for university students.
Annual scholarship awards in
the aggregate amount of $8,000
will be given those students who
submit the finest essays in sup
port of a federal legislative cam
paign to end human exploitation of
animals. The 1977-78 essay con
test will center on the Williams
Long bill in the Congress which
would ban the inter-state ship
ment of furs from any state or na
tion which has not banned the
leg-hold trap.
The scholarship awards will be
made to students, undergraduate (
or graduate, majoring in the fields
of philosophy, journalism, law,
economics, theology, and/or polit
ical science. Official entry blanks
are available by writing: The Re- i
gina Bauer Frankenberg Scholar- I
ship Committee, Friends of Ani- '
mals, Inc., 11 West 60th Street,
New York, N.Y. 10023.
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