ASWOU and WOU Faculty Senate approve the Satisfactory/No Credit grading option

Liz Marquez Gutierrez | ASWOU Senate President

WOU students: 

On behalf of the ASWOU Senate I am excited to share that the E-Satisfactory/NoCredit* grading option will be offered for Winter and Spring of 2021. The S*/NC grading option was offered last spring term to support students adjust to learning in a remote format due to the COVID-19 crisis, however, it was not a grading option for fall 2020 although ~95% of courses were offered online. 

As fall term began, we remained concerned about the mental health and well-being of students, understanding that learning in a remote format during a pandemic continues to be a challenge. In order to address this issue, the ASWOU Senate passed Senate Resolution 6.21 requesting WOU Faculty continue offering students the S*/NC grading option for the remainder of the 2020-2021 academic year. Additionally, Elizabeth Braatz who is a phenomenal student advocate, created a survey to collect student support for the S*/NC grading option to demonstrate how this grading option would greatly benefit students this academic year.

Thankfully, the WOU Faculty Senate voted to approve the S*/NC grading policy for the rest of the 2020-2021 academic year. This effort would not be possible without the support of students who filled out and shared the survey with their peers. I would like to thank Elizabeth Braatz for her incredible work in creating a survey to collect student support for this grading option and for presenting the survey results to the WOU Faculty Senate. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to the WOU Faculty Senate for listening to students’ concerns and for their support of Senate Resolution 6.21.

On December 29th, 2020, the University Registrar sent an email to students providing more details about the S*/NC grading option. It is highly encouraged that students work with their academic advisor when deciding between S*/NC and A-F grading options for winter term as it may impact financial aid status or admittance to future programs (e.g. nursing school, law school).

We hope this grading option provides students the opportunity to successfully complete their courses as we continue to adjust to a new learning environment.

For more information, contact ASWOU Senate President Liz Marquez Gutierrez at aswousenpres@mail.wou.edu.