For those of you who have been keeping up with my issue, I had a second meeting today with the academic school in question. It appears as though I will have to climb the appeals ladder fairly high. Based on information provided by some of the sps posters (THANKS), I forwarded the University's policy to the Associate Dean of my respective school for review. Ultimately, he cannot make the decision to reverse my grade, however, he is valuable insight to how the school will be viewing my case as I assume that his stance will be reflected by the Dean.
Based on this meeting, it appears that the syllabus DID in fact violate the University's "F grade" policy, however, the syllabus, prior to being implemented, had to be approved by the undergraduate council. This may be confusing, as I stated that I was a grad student. By most standards, that is correct. I am technically NOT a grad student, but I am also not an undergraduate student either. I am seeking a professional 7 year degree, but it is neither a graduate degree or undergraduate degree. This would make a lot more sense if I was able to disclose what program I am in, but many of you can accurately deduce that if you are familiar with the program.
Anyway, essentially, the undergraduate council charged with reviewing and approving the syllabus, was either unaware of, or overrode the University's policy that to award a grade of F, the grade must be based on "the combined evaluation of work through the semester". The schools position appears to be that despite the syllabus violating University policy, [FONT=arial, sans-serif]I will be held to what the syllabus states regardless of whether or not the syllabus itself is contradictory to University policy, citing that it was approved at the beginning of the semester by the undergraduate council and therefore will be upheld. To me, it appears that the undergraduate council did not do its job in filtering out policies that were contrary to University policy, and as a result, I will be held to the syllabus and awarded the F. Additionally, there is not anything in the student handbook or University policy indicating that the syllabus supersedes University policy. As a matter of fact, the syllabus is only mentioned twice in the handbook and in neither case is it applicable to my circumstances. I was expecting a much stronger argument for the school's position on the matter, so I am encouraged that, out of all the verbiage in the school's and university's policy and guidelines, there was nothing to back-up the assumption that the syllabus supersedes university directed policy. [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]A few things to clarify are that the school IS subject to the undergraduate policy (a relief for me, as graduate policy is convoluted and designed to offer more flexibility to the graders) and that the F policy is applicable to my situation, as I am under the umbrella of undergraduate coursework. [/FONT]
Additionally, the Scholastic Standards Committee has been petitioned to review this policy, as it may or may not be an academically acceptable. Per the Associate Dean, half of the academics like the policy and the other half disagree with the policy. The syllabus stipulation has only been in place 18 months and has claimed 4 students, myself included. One of the students earned a B in the course based on percentage (EVEN WITH THE sub-69.5% on the final) and will be forced to repeat the entire year as well. Even worse for him, he is getting married over the summer to another student in the program and because the school has two campuses based on progression through the program, he will be separated from his new bride. She is advancing through the program and he will be forced to repeat...leading to a 3 year separation from each other as they advance through the program.
Based on this meeting, it appears that the syllabus DID in fact violate the University's "F grade" policy, however, the syllabus, prior to being implemented, had to be approved by the undergraduate council. This may be confusing, as I stated that I was a grad student. By most standards, that is correct. I am technically NOT a grad student, but I am also not an undergraduate student either. I am seeking a professional 7 year degree, but it is neither a graduate degree or undergraduate degree. This would make a lot more sense if I was able to disclose what program I am in, but many of you can accurately deduce that if you are familiar with the program.
Anyway, essentially, the undergraduate council charged with reviewing and approving the syllabus, was either unaware of, or overrode the University's policy that to award a grade of F, the grade must be based on "the combined evaluation of work through the semester". The schools position appears to be that despite the syllabus violating University policy, [FONT=arial, sans-serif]I will be held to what the syllabus states regardless of whether or not the syllabus itself is contradictory to University policy, citing that it was approved at the beginning of the semester by the undergraduate council and therefore will be upheld. To me, it appears that the undergraduate council did not do its job in filtering out policies that were contrary to University policy, and as a result, I will be held to the syllabus and awarded the F. Additionally, there is not anything in the student handbook or University policy indicating that the syllabus supersedes University policy. As a matter of fact, the syllabus is only mentioned twice in the handbook and in neither case is it applicable to my circumstances. I was expecting a much stronger argument for the school's position on the matter, so I am encouraged that, out of all the verbiage in the school's and university's policy and guidelines, there was nothing to back-up the assumption that the syllabus supersedes university directed policy. [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]A few things to clarify are that the school IS subject to the undergraduate policy (a relief for me, as graduate policy is convoluted and designed to offer more flexibility to the graders) and that the F policy is applicable to my situation, as I am under the umbrella of undergraduate coursework. [/FONT]
Additionally, the Scholastic Standards Committee has been petitioned to review this policy, as it may or may not be an academically acceptable. Per the Associate Dean, half of the academics like the policy and the other half disagree with the policy. The syllabus stipulation has only been in place 18 months and has claimed 4 students, myself included. One of the students earned a B in the course based on percentage (EVEN WITH THE sub-69.5% on the final) and will be forced to repeat the entire year as well. Even worse for him, he is getting married over the summer to another student in the program and because the school has two campuses based on progression through the program, he will be separated from his new bride. She is advancing through the program and he will be forced to repeat...leading to a 3 year separation from each other as they advance through the program.
