Students in the College of Law can choose to take classes this semester credit/no credit instead of receiving letter grades in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, according to an e-mail Interim Dean Melanie Jacobs sent to students on Friday.

Students in the College of Law can choose to take classes this semester credit/no credit instead of receiving letter grades in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, according to an e-mail Interim Dean Melanie Jacobs sent to students on Friday.

MSU College of Law. Photo courtesy of Jeff Shannon.

The policy applies to all Spring 2020 course offerings except those currently graded pass/fail. The decision to choose credit/no credit can be made on a class-by-class basis, and students will have five business days after receiving final grades to exercise that choice.

A grade of “C”—equivalent to a 2.0—or above constitutes a “credit” grade. In general, first-year law school classes are graded on a curve with a mean of 3.0 (± 0.07), while upper-level courses are curved to a 3.33 (± 0.1). Those variances are greater when a class has fewer than 20 students.

Melanie Jacobs, Interim Dean of the College of Law. Photo via MSU Today.

The policy states, “The letter grade received by a student in any course will be used for purposes of calculating academic probation, but not academic dismissal, even if the student elects to receive a grade of NC for that course.”

Many students are pleased with the policy. 3L Class President Emilie DeRemer told On the Banks she was “really happy that MSU Law chose to grant everyone in the law college the option to choose credit/no credit after seeing their final grades because it allows students the chance to choose which grading procedure suits their needs GPA-wise and otherwise.”

A similar policy for undergraduate students is expected to be unveiled next week. More information will likely be available following University Council’s discussion of the proposed policy at its March 24 remote meeting.

Tyler Silvestri Tyler Silvestri is a third-year law student at MSU who received his bachelor’s degree in Political Theory & Constitutional Democracy from MSU’s James Madison College in 2017. He spent one year as the Assistant Director of ASMSU’s Student Rights Advocates and two years as a Resident Assistant. He is the Chairperson of the University Committee on Academic Governance. He can be reached at Tyler@onthebanksmsu.com. See author's posts