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Statement of Principles Regarding GradingThe Executive Board of UUP Binghamton at its meeting of April 20,2005, adopted the following set of principles regarding grading:
Background: As reported in the February issue of the The Connection, there was alleged interference by the administration in assigning of grades by some DSON faculty. Concerns expressed by faculty to UUP Binghamton prompted us to research the policy and procedures by which faculty assign grades and by which grades can be changed. The contractual basis for UUP's involvement is article 9, "Academic Freedom," of our agreement with the state, which we interpret as encompassing the prerogative of instructors to assign grades. We asked the president's designee at the February Labor-Management meeting about relevant policies and procedures governing grading. The administration seemed to agree that instructors have the prerogative to assign grades; that "very rarely" would administration change a grade; and that the only time administration would change the grade would be if the appropriate appeal mechanism, either through the Student Handbook Grievance Procedure or some departmental or school procedure, had been followed. After the February meeting, we became aware of a letter sent to a group of faculty by a dean. The letter seemed to be at odds with the administration's stated policy on grading and change of grades. We once again asked about grading policy, this time at the March Labor-Management meeting. The administration reiterated its commitment to academic freedom as defined by article 9 of the UUP-NYS contract, and asserted that faculty have the prerogative in assigning grades and that grades could be changed after appropriate appeal mechanisms were followed. Management would not comment directly on the letter because it involved a particular school. However, when we followed up at the April Labor-Management meeting (in which President DeFleur attended), we received an expanded exposition of BU's grading policies. In this LM meeting, President DeFleur stated that any complaint, be it from a student, faculty member, or administrator, could trigger a administration review of a student's assigned grade. UUP's concern is that, in contrast to student-initiated grading challenges, there is no policy or procedure for faculty or administrator-initiated challenges. The Faculty-Staff Handbook in section VII.C.10 Changing Grades seems to indicate that grades are immutable unless one of three conditions are met (none of which apply to the DSON situation). This policy, however, apparently applies to grades assigned by instructors in which there is no dispute. With the policy articulated by President DeFleur (an administration complaint can trigger an administrative review of assigned grades), and the lack of procedure for administration review of grades, the events last semester at the DSON seem to fall within university guidelines: administrators, for whatever reason, can change a grade by following whatever procedure they desire. This is clearly untenable for faculty represented by UUP, and hence UUP Binghamton's Executive Board discussed and passed the Statement of Principles enumerated above. Our plan is to introduce the statement at the next Labor-Management meeting, on May 9. We hope that the administration will agree to the principles, and will incorporate them into the Faculty Staff Handbook after review by the Faculty Senate's Educational Policy and Priorities Committee.
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