The University of Idaho Faculty Senate voted to adopt changes to final exam rescheduling at its Tuesday meeting. The changes stipulate the classes with the lowest student enrollment should be the ones required to accommodate the student by allowing them to take the test at a different time.
The University Curriculum Committee (UCC) proposed the change to the policies regarding students with multiple final exams on the same day, which would have also allowed students to take up to four finals on a single day.
The proposal was split into two by Sen. Clinton Jeffry and partially adopted after several senators expressed concern over the original. The first part of the proposed change passed while the second, allowing up to four tests per day, was opposed by a sizeable amount of senators.
Clinton Jeffrey | Courtesy
The policy on moving finals prior to the vote allowed students with three or more finals in a day to request to have their final exam rescheduled. If none of the student’s professors volunteered to accommodate the student they could take up their issue with the Dean of Student’s Office. If this happens, the student or the Dean’s office must decide which final to move.
The second part of Jeffry’s motion, which wasn’t adopted, was another pillar of the UCC’s proposal concerning how many finals in a day allow a student to ask for a final exam to be rescheduled.
The meeting ended with a brief update on a new grading system UI is hoping to implement by fall semester of 2023. The Teaching and Advising Committee voted on a shift from using strictly letter grades to using a plus or minus system. This means some straight “A” students may find that they are actually “A minus” students come 2023. This change still needs to be voted on by several university sub-groups before it will begin to be implemented.
Gavin Green can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @gavingreenphoto