While several complexities stand in the way of its implementation, the Provost has proposed a new “Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory” grading option in response to the coronavirus.

At today’s meeting of The Steering Committee1, Interim Provost Teresa Sullivan shared some remarks on the possibility of changing the Spring 2020 grading system in the wake of the novel coronavirus.

The Provost began by recognizing a widely-circulated petition calling for the University to “make classes this semester credit/no credit.” As of this writing, the petition has nearly 7,000 signatures.

In most cases, students must notify the registrar of their binding choice to take a course on a credit/no credit basis within the first 1/14th of the term (generally the first five days of instruction). Similarly, it is too late in the term to add courses to the fixed list of courses that are graded pass/fail.

Anxiety about the fairness of grades has increased as students have begun university-wide online classes. Photo courtesy of MSU Communications.

Given that those two options are infeasible, the Provost has recommended that the University create a this-semester-only grading system tentatively called “Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory.” If implemented, individual students could choose on a class-by-class basis to opt in to the S/U grading scheme or remain on the ordinary 0.0–4.0 system.

System Who Opts In Applies To Grade Required Credit/No Credit Student Student 2.0/C for undergraduates, 3.0/B for graduate students Pass/No Grade (Often referred to as “Pass/Fail”) Professor Entire Class 1.0/D, according to the Provost Satisfactory / Unsatisfactory

(Name subject to change) Student Student 1.0/D; the Provost’s office does not yet know how this would apply to graduate students

Sullivan warned that several complexities make implementing S/U grading difficult, but she emphasized that her office is working to develop solutions. Sources familiar with the discussions told On the Banks that college advisors and associate deans spent today grappling with these problems. Among the issues discussed were the effect of an S/U grade on a student’s application to graduate school, how S/U would affect a student on academic probation, and whether binary grades like S/U will be counted for required courses, which colleges generally require to be graded in a non-binary way.

James Madison College professor and Steering Committee member Anna Pegler-Gordon asked whether students would know their grades by the time they had to decide whether to be graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis. Sullivan said that because it would take until the end of the semester to implement the technology behind the new system, students “would be able to know” their grades before making the decision.

Interim Provost Teresa Sullivan. Photo via MSU Today.

Sullivan estimated that implementing S/U grading would take approximately 400 hours of programming to accomplish from a technical perspective, and she has already instructed programmers to begin developing the necessary infrastructure. However, she noted that the system “didn’t have to be deployed if there’s a strong resistance to it.”

Not all Colleges would be required to offer S/U grading. Sullivan specifically said that the College of Law might decline to do so. In an e-mail, Interim Dean Melanie Jacobs told me that the College of Law is still considering S/U grading and is “looking at a range of options . . . to make a decision that is fair and reduces (as much as possible) student anxiety.” She added that she has received e-mails from students expressing a wide range of opinions on grading systems. Jacobs intends to share a plan with students by March 20.

The Provost expressed that she wanted faculty input but needed to act swiftly. Accordingly, University Council—the membership of which includes all of Faculty Senate—will discuss the issue at its remote meeting on March 24.



1 Technically, the “T” in “The” is capitalized here. Don’t ask; it’s a whole Bylaws thing.

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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