Resolution 36

A RESOLUTION TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT TO STATE THE STUDENT SENATE POSITION ON PROPOSED CHANGES TO GEP CO-REQUISITE REQUIREMENTS

Short Title: Senate Position on GEP Co-Requisites

Sponsors: Senator Alex Yadon (Corresponding)

Signatories:

Referred to: Academics

Version: Adopted

First Reading: September 26, 2012 Second Reading: October 2, 2012

WHEREAS, North Carolina State University policy and the Credit-Only Courses regulation 02.20.15 indicate that all courses taken to fulfill the university general education (GEP) requirements must be taken for a letter grade with the exception of PE courses; and,

WHEREAS, the current policy is being interpreted differently with regard to courses taken to fulfill the GEP co-requisite categories, Global Knowledge (GK) and US Diversity (USD), when the course will count as a free elective; and,

WHEREAS, the Council on Undergraduate Education (CUE) has been asked to develop a formal policy statement on whether co-requisites taken to fulfill a free elective in the major can be met with an “S” grade rather than a letter grade; and,

WHEREAS, arguments in favor of maintaining the current policy that all GEP courses must be taken for a letter grade include:

ñ All GEP courses are considered essential, and USD and GK categories were only made co-requisites as a compromise so as not to increase the credit hour burden on students.

ñ There is evidence that taking a course S/U reduces student commitment to the course and thus has the potential to diminish learning in the course.

ñ If a student applies to graduate/professional school, grades of “S” are converted to a “C,” which may hurt their GPA. Students may not be aware of this consequence of taking a course S/U.

And,

WHEREAS, arguments in favor of allowing the option to select S/U grades to satisfy a co-requisite when taken as a free-elective or non-degree course include:

ñ A grade of “S” is equivalent to a “C-“which is a higher threshold to fulfill the co-requisite which can be met with a grade of “D-“.

ñ Since co-requisites are non-credit bearing, the letter grade is unnecessary and may penalize students for taking a course that is outside their comfort zone.

ñ As we allow students to take other free elective and non-degree courses S/U, a course taken as a free elective or non-degree that meets the GK or USD requirement should fulfill the GEP co-requisite.

ñ For the Global Knowledge category, CUE permits any NC State course taken study abroad to fulfill the co-requisite so the co-requisite category is already being treated differently.

ñ There are courses currently on the co-requisite lists that are graded S/U.

Now therefore be it,

RESOLVED, that the North Carolina State University Student Senate supports the continuation of the policy requiring the Global Knowledge and US Diversity general education co-requisites to be satisfied with a letter grade; and be it further,

RESOLVED, that the North Carolina State University Student Senate encourages the CUE committee to notify students of the consequences of taking courses for a grade of satisfactory or unsatisfactory; and be it further,

RESOLVED, that this resolution be referred to the Council on Undergraduate Education for their consideration.