Pass/Fail Decision and Summer Online

Dear Students, Faculty, and Academic Affairs Staff,

I am pleased to announce that faculty were overwhelmingly supportive of the proposal that I made to Faculty Assembly today:

All currently enrolled undergraduate students will be assigned grades at the end of the term, as is the current practice. However, in keeping with an Emersonian emphasis on student agency and choice, one week after the grades are received, every enrolled undergraduate student may choose to keep grades in any of their classes or to change their grades to pass/fail in any of these classes by informing the registrar.

A Pass is equal to a D or better according to Emerson’s grading policy. The registrar notes that a Pass does not count in the GPA. For spring 2020, we will create an F* and this new grade will not count in the GPA.  Also, in response to faculty requests, final grades will be due May 8, not May 4.

Since the graduate programs are offered online, on-campus, and in hybrid form, and there are complexities around accreditation and what constitutes failing, the dean of the graduate school and graduate program directors will work with individual students to resolve any issues that may arise.

Finally, Graduate and Professional Studies staff will work with faculty to move as many on-campus, summer school courses online as possible. Pre-College programs will also go online as faculty and staff work together creatively to re-conceive these.  

All best, 
Michaele Whelan
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs