Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

Additional Grade Change Info for WUs

April 28, 2020
Debra S. Larson, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Daniel Grassian, Vice Provost for Academic Programs
Chiara Ferrari, Chair, Academic Senate
Michael Allen, University Registrar 

Dear faculty colleagues,

In consultation with the Senate Chair, the Provost Academic Council, and Department Chairs, Academic and Student Affairs have made an additional grading decision for spring 2020, pertaining to WU grades.

WU grades are issued to students when they do not complete course requirements but also do not withdraw from the class. In these unprecedented times, we believe students may be issued WU grades for no fault of their own (due to challenging COVID-19 related situations), and these grades (WUs) can harm students as they are calculated into GPAs as an F. We believe that automatically converting all WU grades to W grades, which are not factored into students’ GPAs, is the most ethical and compassionate decision. 

As faculty, you do not need to do anything or complete any paperwork for this change to occur. Please enter all grades normally, including WUs. The Registrar’s Office will automatically make the change.