The Faculty Association executive board passed a motion Monday night to adjust the grading guidelines and expand pass-fail mode grading for undergraduate students.

“The faculty here have been talking about something like this since spring break,” Lisa Glidden, the Faculty Association chair, said. “The executive board passed a temporary revision to the pass-fail policy.”

At Oswego State, the pass-fail option is intended to provide students the opportunity to take a class without the grade they receive affecting their GPA. According to the Oswego State webpage, the option is primarily intended for upperclassmen, so they can ” explore course work in areas outside of their regular degree requirements without the direct application of the normal letter grade scale to their grade point average.”

Under the pass-fail grading mode, a grade of D- or higher is considered a “pass,” and the course is considered complete. However, the course does not contribute positively or negatively to the student’s GPA. Normally, only a limited number of classes per semester, and a small subset of non-required classes overall are eligible for the option.

Under the temporary guidelines passed by FA, any Oswego State undergraduate student can choose pass-fail for all elective classes, including general education classes. Courses in degree programs that do not require a C- or higher for credit are also eligible for the option.

Glidden said that courses in programs with higher grading requirements cannot be changed to a pass-fail option because of the requirements of the accreditation organizations that certify certain degree programs offered by the college.

“We have a whole bunch of different accrediting bodies, and they all have different rules,” Glidden said. “So a lot of those courses where a C- or better is needed to pass, that is the rule because the accreditors say that is the rule.”

Glidden said that while the changes to the pass-fail guidelines is intended to give students some room to breathe during the pandemic and the offering of online classes exclusively, the long-term success of a student academically needs to be considered as well.

Student success is also a consideration to be weighed before choosing to push a class to the pass-fail grading option. Glidden said that while a grade of D- may be passing, it does not demonstrate mastery of the subject. Choosing to make a core subject course pass-fail, and moving forward without truly understanding the course material could be disastrous in the long-term.

“We are strongly recommending that students consult their advisors before making any decisions,” Glidden said. “Even if you choose pass-fail, and you’re in a program where you can choose that, it could have ramifications for graduate school.”

Another change that FA is hoping will be implemented during the pandemic is the suspension of academic disqualification. According to the college website, under normal circumstances, a student who performs poorly academically while on academic probation or violates their probationary agreement with the college will be disqualified from attending Oswego State for at least one semester. Usually they are not permitted to return at all.

The provosts’ office is the final authority on academic suspension and probation, so any decisions on that front must come from there. However, FA is suggesting that automatic disqualifications be suspended for the semester and any disqualification proceedings that do take place take the current situation into account.

“We would like to keep academic probation,” Glidden said. “That sounds like a bad thing, but really it brings in a whole bunch of support for students that we want to continue to keep in place.”

Advice from the Provosts office will be sent to students via their Oswego email addresses, which will include information for the different schools, colleges and programs at Oswego State.