GRADE CHANGE COMMITTEE

ANNUAL REPORT 1996-1997
Stephen R. McNeill, Chair

GRADE CHANGES:

PAST-YEAR SUMMARY:

The Chair appreciates the dedicated work of all GC Committees members: Dianne Ward, Ken Fleak, Richard Clodfelter and Ernest Wiggins. The attendance at this year's meetings was extremely high with all but one meeting having the needed quorum. Richard Clodfelter will serve as Chair for 1997-98. Dianne Ward and the chair are replaced by Lisa Martin-Stuart and Jon Wardrip. Special thanks to Jeanna Luker, Faculty Senate Office, for her handling of the massive paperwork associated with the Committee and helpful advice for the Chair. The Faculty Senate is truly lucky to have such a hardworking and dedicated individual working for it.

The large majority of grade changes were justified by Computation or Transcription Error. The majority of the rejected grade changes were for faculty trying to assign either a W or delete to a grade which was either assigned as a F or changed to a F from either NR or I. All faculty need to be aware that these type of changes must be approved by the Scholastic Standards and Petitions Committee of the College in which the student is enrolled before coming to the Grade Change Committee.

The Committee also noted an inconsistency in the assigning of either a W or delete for students who never attended class. It seems unfair to the committee that some students had classes removed from their transcripts while others were being assigned a W for identical reasons. Although the committee took no action to change the inconsistency, it is of concern to them.

The Committee would also like to remind all College Scholastic Standards and Petitions Committees that their approval on grade changes is required before the Grade Change Committee can consider them. It is helpful if documentation that their Scholastic Standards and Petitions Committee considered is forward to the Grade Change Committee. When documentation did not accompany the request, unneeded delays were incurred. In rare cases the Committee did over rule the decision of a College's Scholastic Standards and Petitions Committee. This was because the Committee felt the assignment of the original grade was for reasons under the student's control. The Committee always approved the request when the reason for the student's original assigned grade was out of their control (illness, death, etc.).

This page updated 21 September 1997 by the Office of the Faculty Senate,
and copyright 1997, The Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina.
URL http://www.sc.edu/faculty/senate/97/annual/gcr.html