University Senate Passes GPA Changes, Ignites Student Disapproval

On November 9^th, 2011 the University of Maryland University Senate passed a Bill to change how Undergraduates GPAs are calculated  49-26 with two abstentions, meaning it is now only up to President Dr. Wallace Loh to approve the bill to have the University’s GPA calculation system completely changed beginning in Fall of 2012. The new system will count an A+ as 4.0, an A as 4.0, an A- as 3.7, and a B+ as a 3.3 (continues this way for all grades where a “–“subtracts .3 from the GPA and a “+” adds .3 to the GPA). 

However, in a petition created by Zachary Cohen, sitting University Senate Member, he claims that “…the simple fact is that the administration neither solicited nor received the student input that is necessary to implement such a wide-sweeping change.”  The petition then proceeds to add that “During the University Senate meeting on November 9, 2011, non-student senators voted not only to prevent debate on a motion to gather more student input for this policy, but voted to prevent an undergraduate senator from voicing the concerns of his constituents.”  So far, the petition has gained 2,077 out of the needed 5,000 signatures to achieve recognition of the student voice. 

The Student Government Association has shown its disapproval of the new plan for implementation, voting against the bill in a special session.  In an interview with SGA President Kaiyi Xie, I asked him what his concerns were of this new grading system:

                In a report from Provost Dr. Ann Wylie to the University Senate Executive Committee, the Provost says the new system will reduce overall student GPAs by .03 of a point.  The reasoning behind the change is to make our system like those of “Peer Institutions” like UNC Chapel Hill, and UC Berkeley, where they have similar systems in place.  It is also supposed to help students who are looking to go to graduate school, where most of these schools recalculate students’ GPAs.

                With all of this opposition in mind, I asked President Xie what students can do to make their voices heard:

It seems a large part of the problem was the way this bill was passed.  It will be interesting to see if students can be loud enough to deter President Loh from approving this bill and changing the way grades are recalculated for all students who currently attend and will attend the University of Maryland College Park.