U. to offer P/D/F reversal option for concentration requirements
Caroline LippmanStudents will be allowed to reverse a pass/D/fail grade option for a course that could be used to fulfill requirements for a concentration or a certificate, according to Undergraduate Student Government academics committee chair Ramie Fathy ’16.Students would be able to reverse these P/D/F designations once they have chosen their concentration and/or certificates, Fathy said.Fathy will communicate with administratorsto finalize an implementation date for the change, according toUSG president Ella Cheng '16.Cheng is a former staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.The committee, which organized the initiative to reform P/D/F policies, proposed several changes to the University’s current P/D/F policy on Friday to the Committee on Examinations and Standing, academics committee member Erika Kirgios’ 17 said.The proposal was based on data from a survey administered to the student body over the Thanksgiving break, which received over 2,000 responses.Kirgios noted that the survey revealed that 22 percent of students have chosen not to pursue a potential concentration or certificate because they used a P/D/F grade in an introductory course and could not use that credit to fulfill higher-level course requirements.“The students definitely wanted the policy to change,” Fathy explained, noting that the results show student interest in a new P/D/F policy.Kirgios added that the academics committee received notification shortly after the proposal from Senior Associate Dean of the College Claire Fowler that the Committee on Examinations and Standing was currently working on a process to allow students to appeal through their residential college dean to uncover a grade in a course that they took with a P/D/F if they need it to meet a departmental or certificate requirement."I would be very much in favor of students being able to reverse a P/D/F for a course they needed for a department or a certificate," Fowler said.“I wouldn’t like to think that choosing to P/D/F would prevent somebody from majoring in a department.”Kirgios said that the academics committee’s proposed revisions also included a reverse P/D/F policy, which would allow students to uncover their grade in a course and reverse their decision to opt for the P/D/F option up to two weeks into the following semester.However, this change will not be implemented, she noted.