If instructors don’t submit grades on time, the results mean bad news for students.

Moving grade submissions online was the main topic of discussion at Wednesday’s Faculty Senate meeting.

Faculty Senate President Paul Stoddard said if instructors don’t submit grades online by the assigned deadline, students will automatically be issued an “F” for the missing classes.

“Final grades will be different than we’ve ever done before,” Stoddard said. “There is no longer [an option to not record a grade]. If you don’t file grades on time, all your students will get Fs. So if you don’t want that to happen, we need to get them in on time.”

Financial aid plays a part in this new concept, Stoddard said.

“Part of the issue that a lot of this is actually being driven by is financial aid concerns. If there’s no record of students taking a course, which is what happens when you don’t file the grades, students start getting into trouble for not having enough credit hours,” he said. “So I don’t think this was purely some evil overlord’s idea of what to do to faculty and students. I do think there was a rationale behind it, mostly in terms of financial aid considerations.”

Instructors must also record grades for each student in a class in order for the other students’ grades to successfully post, Stoddard said.

Though the legality of software automatically issuing students Fs without instructor input was called into question, Stoddard feels the concept has passed the inspection of the proper individuals.

“It has gone through the main curricular bodies on campus,” he said. “The ‘incomplete’ option is available if there’s a student who just hasn’t finished all the work yet, so you can still do that.”

If instructors fail to register grades in time and students receive Fs, the instructor still has until about midway through next semester to change the grade through a paper process, Stoddard said.

Parking concerns addressed

After concerns about the perceived lack of faculty and staff parking were brought up at the Oct. 29 Faculty Senate meeting, Stoddard said progress has been made in discussions about the matter with the Department of Public Safety.

Stoddard said he has talked with University Police Chief Donald Grady about the matter and is confident that a resolution can be reached in the near future.

“Basically they do things very methodically in Public Safety, and that’s worked for them; that’s what they’re doing now, is being thorough,” Stoddard said.

Construction of the Chiller Plant behind the Campus Life Building created a domino effect that has left some faculty and staff scrambling to find parking spots on campus. Stoddard stated concern at the Oct. 29 meeting that the UP, which now oversees Parking Services, would take too long to reach a solution.

“The chief assures me it will not take 17 months,” Stoddard said. “He said a two or three month time frame.”