February 12, 2008

University Senate to vote Feb. 18 on grade index adjustment

The original proposal brought before the Senate on Jan. 28 called for the use of two scholastic indexes -- a semester and an adjusted cumulative -- and uncoupled academic forgiveness from the change of degree objective (CODO). The Senate passed an amendment that eliminated any adjustment to the cumulative index.

James McGlothlin, chair of the Educational Policy Committee, brought the original proposal to the Senate floor. Under the proposal, students would be allowed to omit up to 12 credit hours taken in the first 24 months of undergraduate studies. The omitted courses would appear on the transcript with an "X" before the grade.

"Students who knew how to work the system by CODO-ing to different colleges and schools could significantly  impact their GPA at any time during college," said McGlothlin, who also is associate professor of industrial hygiene and ergonomics.. "The proposal by the EPC puts limits on this process in terms of credits and time, and it offers fairness and flexibility to students who want to either stay in their major or transfer to another program."

Scott Feld, who presented the amendment, said that placing an adjusted cumulative index on a transcript, even with explanatory notes, could be perceived as misleading. 

"While it is legitimate for faculty to consider some form of student forgiveness, especially for freshmen, the issue of the nature and extent of appropriate forgiveness can be treated directly and separately from transcript GPA grade adjustments," said Feld, professor of sociology.

Other senators also voiced their opposition to using the GPA as a means of forgiveness and suggested that any leniency be left for the individual colleges and schools to decide.

George Bodner, chair of the University Senate, called for a show of hands on the amendment. Thirty-one voted in favor of the amendment, 27 voted against it and two abstained.

After the vote, another discussion occurred, and several senators left the meeting. When the Senate then attempted to take a vote on the amended proposal, it lacked the 51 members needed for a quorum. 

The vote is now scheduled for Feb. 18.

In other business:

-- The Educational Policy Committee proposed scheduling changes for evening exams. Under the revised policy, the earliest evening exam would be at 6 p.m., and no exam would run later than 10 p.m. Currently, evening exams start at 6:30 p.m., and some exams last until 10:30 p.m.

McGlothlin said student safety issues and an increase in exams  longer than one hour prompted the EPC's discussion of the policy with the Registrar's office. The revised policy is scheduled to be voted on in February.

-- Bodner reported to the Senate about a proposed draft of an interpretation of the University's Policy on Intellectual Property. The interpretation of the policy was created to resolve questions that arose after the intellectual property policy was revised in May 2007.

-- Bodner also reported on proposed modifications to Purdue's Policy on Research Integrity, Executive Memorandum C-22. The policy has not been modified since its adoption in 1991 and is no longer consistent with the federal policy on research misconduct. Bodner says the modifications also are intended to address procedural concerns with Purdue's current policy.

Bodner asked for questions on both reports during the meeting and told Senate members to e-mail their comments and suggestions on the drafts to him. The e-mail will be forwarded anonymously to the authors of the final drafts of these documents.