AS
Senate gives +/– grading an F–
By
Joseph Serna
Online Forty-Niner
Assistant City Editor
The Associated Students Senate unanimously passed a resolution against changing
to plus-minus grading at Cal State Long Beach.
The Resolution Relative to Proposed Change to Grade Options, sponsored by the
entire Senate, met its only debate when Sen. Kenneth Cooper, College of the
Arts, reiterated a point he had from the previous meeting.
Cooper’s contention, which was later approved, was the resolution carried
the most weight if it mentioned all college councils supporting the resolution,
rather than mentioning only individual councils that had officially endorsed
the resolution.
The Senate’s resolution acknowledges the Academic Senate’s argument
that 21 other California State University campuses already use plus-minus grading;
however, the Senate argues, following CSULB’s ranking third Best Value
Public College in the United States in The Princeton Review, the university
has already established a strong name in higher education.
The Academic Senate’s ad-hoc committee also found the grading change
would not increase competitiveness for CSULB graduates to graduate schools
or professional school admissions.
The negative impact on financial aid, academic probation and athletic scholarships
because of potential lower GPAs was a major point of the resolution.
If plus-minus grading was implemented, faculty could use it by choice, and
the subjectivity it may reflect was the final concern the senators included
in the resolution, which will be distributed to the Academic Senate today,
when it decides on the issue.
The only other resolution before the Senate calls for supporting a “Day
of Action” initiated by the Action in Defense of Education (AIDE), a
network of students, education administrators and activists fighting to hold
the CSU to its Master Plan’s creed.
The “Day of Action,” April 26, calls for walkouts or otherwise
expressing support for AIDE.
ASI President-Elect and Sen. Shefali Mistry, College of the Arts, asked ASI
Vice President Hiro Okahana if approving the resolution meant supporting walkouts
by the students next week.
Okahana, who is not regarded as confrontational, said with a smile “Sometimes
[deliberating] doesn’t work.”
The Senate unanimously passed the resolution.
The Senate also made two appointments: Jessica Arteaga as associate justice,
and Darshan Rangnath as secretary of Campus Diversity Relations.
The Senate will vote on approving the ASI budget next week.
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