January 27, 1997

Process under way to change UCSC grading system

The Office of the Registrar is working with faculty and academic departments to implement the recently approved Academic Senate decision that--beginning next fall--will permit new UCSC students to request letter grades for all classes as well as accumulate a grade-point average.

Continuing students will be eligible to request letter grades for all classes beginning this fall, but will not be eligible to acquire a GPA, says Cecilia Rodriguez, UCSC registrar.

Personnel in her department are working with others on campus to publicize the new policy to faculty, staff, and incoming students; revise information that will be contained on transcripts; and design computer systems to calculate the new GPAs.

By a two-to-one margin, members of the senate approved the new policy this past fall. Of a total of 276 votes cast by mail, 183 members of the senate endorsed the proposal, 92 voted against the change, and 1 senator abstained.

The senate's Committee on Educational Policy (CEP) had recommended the new grading policy, saying the change would provide students with more options while retaining the Narrative Evaluation System.

The new policy will still permit course-sponsoring units to request that CEP consider "Pass/No Pass only" grading options for specific courses; the requests would be considered on pedagogical grounds.

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