After more than a year of waiting, students can now use the Academic Forgiveness Policy to retake up to two courses.
Associate Provost Jerome Gilbert said that after a long push by the Student Association, the policy had to pass through the Associate Deans Council, Deans Council, Faculty Senate and the university’s Executive Council before going into effect.
The Faculty Senate approved the policy in a 25-14 vote in January.
“The wording took about a year, maybe a year and a half to straighten out,” Gilbert said. “It had gone back and forth between the Faculty Senate and the SA several times.”
The policy states that students may retake up to two classes taken since Aug. 2003. Students have to have made a D or F in the course and must retake the same course number to satisfy the policy.
Gilbert noted that while the original grade will appear on student transcripts, only the retake will go toward the student’s grade point average.
“The second time a student takes a course, that grade will stand,” Gilbert said. “It doesn’t matter if the grade is higher or lower than the original one.”
This means that if a student retakes a classes in which he or she has made a D, and fails the second time, then the F will be the grade figured into the GPA, Gilbert said.
He also said students are able to retake any classes except ones failed because of Academic Dishonesty Policy violations, and while students may retake two classes, the retakes cannot exceed six hours.
SA President Adam Telle said former president Josh Blades and former SA director of academic affairs Richard Heard were the main advocates of the policy.
“Josh Blades and Richard Heard really lobbied the Faculty Senate to get this passed,” Telle said. “It’s something that a lot of other universities have and it helps students.”
“The policy gives students an option to correct a mistake,” Gilbert said. “It will especially benefit freshmen who get in over their heads at the beginning and don’t fully understand what to expect from college courses and college life.
“It’s good for students who are trying to do things in their best interest.”
“Hopefully this will improve retention among freshmen and sophomore students,” Telle said. “We have a lot of students who are good students, but maybe they come from a smaller high school and they mess up a couple of times when they start college.”
Students can find necessary forms for retaking courses, as well as a link to the policy details, under the Registration and Academic Records menu in Banner Web, Telle said.
“I was amazed by how easy they have made it,” he said. “It is really easy to do. You just print out the PDF, sign it, have your advisor sign it and take it to the registrar’s office.”
The deadline to retake a class under the Academic Forgiveness Policy this semester is 5 p.m. today.