The Senate Executive Committee meeting took place in the Marie Mount Hall on Tuesday, March 24.

The Senate Executive Committee meeting took place in the Marie Mount Hall on Tuesday, March 24.

A motion to require university professors to provide midsemester grades to first-year students, those enrolled in zero-, 100- and 200-level courses and student-athletes enrolled in undergraduate courses is gaining momentum in the University Senate after the Senate Executive Committee meeting yesterday.

The SEC unanimously agreed to send the proposed changes to the entire senate for a vote at the upcoming April 8 meeting. If it passes, the changes could be implemented next academic year.

Currently, it is not required for professors to release midsemester grades that evaluate student progress eight weeks into every semester.

The mandate would help improve professor-student communication and could also help advisers and chairs identify and reach out to struggling students whom they may have otherwise not noticed, said Charles Delwiche, Senate Academic Procedures & Standards Committee chairman.

The APAS Committee was charged in May to look into this issue after senior economics major Mythili Mandadi brought forward her concerns to the senate about not knowing where she stood in her classes halfway through the semester.

After investigating the charge, the APAS Committee considered this motion as well as a motion mandating all professors use ELMS for grade reporting. The committee found several scenarios in which ELMS is not necessarily appropriate for certain classes, such as small classes or classes in arts and humanities, and decided to not go through with it.

But part of this proposed midsemester grades bill would also add stronger language to the university’s faculty handbook to encourage professors to use ELMS, which the committee indicated is underutilized.

Before the senate voted to pass the bill on for a full senate vote, SEC member Chris Davis expressed some problems he had with the proposal.

Davis said he felt it takes responsibility away from students to talk with their professors proactively about their academic standing in their classes. He also said the mandate does not specify a punishment for professors who fail to post midsemester grades.

“If you mandate this kind of thing, I don’t think it’s going to solve anyone’s problems,” Davis said during the SEC meeting.

While Ryan Belcher, an undergraduate representative for the SEC, agreed with Davis’ concern, he sees this proposal as a potential catalyst for more student-professor communication. Belcher, a senior environmental science and policy and government and politics major, said he supports the bill as it stands.

“A letter grade can only go so far halfway through the year,” Belcher said. “You just need better communication between the students and faculty.”

Delwiche agreed that the bill would not immediately change some faculty members’ opinions on releasing midsemester grades, but he does believe the policy will have a long-term positive effect.

Specifically, he said he foresees this policy gradually changing those opinions over time.