Passed: December 15, 2023
Vote results and comments
Posted: September 27, 2023
Sponsors: Listed below
Resolution:
Whereas the university’s requirements regarding the grade of incomplete are set forth in the Cornell University Grading System policy, which the Faculty Senate adopted in 1965;
Whereas this policy sets forth two conditions that must be satisfied before an instructor may issue a grade of incomplete:
- The student must have “substantial equity at a passing level in the course with respect to work completed”;
- The student “has been prevented by circumstances beyond the student’s control, such as illness or family emergency, from completing all the course requirements on time”;
Whereas if a student fails to complete the incomplete by the specified deadline, the incomplete will either be converted to a grade of F or it will stand as a permanent incomplete, depending upon the college/school policy;
Whereas the policy requires a permanent notation when a student initially receives a grade of incomplete, even when another grade is later substituted, for example, when a student has completed an incomplete;
Whereas based upon the requirement of “circumstances beyond the student’s control,” a student is not at fault for needing to receive temporarily a grade of incomplete and once a student completes the incomplete, they should not be punished for the temporary setback by having an incomplete notated permanently on their transcript;
Whereas a temporary incomplete does not reveal anything relevant to a transcript reader; it is not intended to signify either an academic or conduct violation for which the student is blameworthy and about which the reader should know;
Whereas it is not intended to signify academic laxity, as a student must demonstrate sufficient achievement – obtain “substantial equity” – to be eligible for an incomplete;
Whereas there is a risk that a transcript reader will see significance and culpability where there is none and, in this sense, the incomplete is both prejudicial and misleading;
Whereas sometimes, the “circumstances beyond the student’s control” involve private matters, such as a Policy 6.4 case, a serious illness, or a pregnancy, and a student should not be put in a position to feel obliged, perhaps even pressured, to reveal such information, but a transcript notation does just that by flagging the incomplete for the reader;
Whereas without the required permanent notation for a temporary incomplete, a transcript reader has all necessary information about a student’s academic performance because once a student receives an incomplete, if they are unable to complete the specified make-up requirements by the specified deadline, this failing will be made evident to a transcript reader through either the grade of F or a permanent incomplete on the transcript, depending upon the college/school policy;
Whereas if the student has completed the incomplete, the substituted grade will reflect the student’s accomplishment in the course;
Whereas Cornell is the only Ivy league institution that includes on a transcript any reference to a grade of incomplete where another grade has been substituted;
Whereas notating transcripts to show that a student received a temporary grade of incomplete is a manual process and recent data reveal that input of the notation is extremely uneven across colleges and schools, making the practice inequitable;
Be it therefore resolved that for the foregoing reasons, the Cornell University Grading System policy be revised by eliminating the clause that states: “[t]he symbol INC becomes a permanent part of the student’s transcript, even when a grade is later submitted,” and substituting the text: “[t]he symbol INC becomes a permanent part of the student’s transcript only when another grade is not later submitted.”
University Faculty Sponsors
Christine Bacareza Balance
Brad Bell
Lawrence Blume
Tad Brennan
Laura Brown
Austin Bunn
David Delchamps
Parfait Eloundou-Enyegue
Elizabeth Fisher
Cole Gilbert
Roger Gilbert
Tara Holm
Juliana Hu Pegues
Karim-Aly Kassam
JR Keller
Lori Leonard
Caroline Levine
Bruce Levitt
Corinna Loeckenhoff
John March
Mostafa Minawi
Viranjini Munasinghe
Lisa Nishii
Barry Perlus
Marvin Pritts
Masha Raskolnikov
Sharon Sassler
Chris Schaffer
Dawn Schraeder
John Sipple
Jed Sparks
Mike Thompson
Connie Yuan
