New grading system
by Sharon deck
You goof off during your freshman year and then find that you can't
get your quality point average up to a 2.0 in time to graduate.
Or you come back to school from the Army, determined to work hard,
and find that all your D's and F's in your early years cancel out the A's
and B's you are making now.
These are some of the inequities that a proposed change in the
undergraduate grading system would rectify.
Although a faculty committee is
DR. JORDAN
— His dismissal is only
symptomatic of the troubles of UNCC.
Read Reflections on a Brick Wall Pages 6-7.
still working out the kinks in the
proposal, it would work something
like this:
During a student's college career,
he would be allowed to take grades
of No Credit on a certain number
of courses. Grades of D and F
would be abolished.
The number of "no credit"
grades a student could receive and
still stay in school would decrease
each year. For example, freshmen
might be allowed to get four grades
of no credit without having to
withdraw. Sophomores may be
allowed two, and so on up the
scale.
This is similar to the present
system, which requires freshmen to
have a 1.25 to continue,
sophomores a 1.50, juniors a 1.75,
and seniors a 2.0.
Courses in which a student gets a
grade of no credit would be
counted only in determining
whether he will stay in school.
They do not count toward
graduation. To graduate, a student
must make a grade of C or better
on all required hours. For most
degree programs, 120 hours of C or
better work would be required.
Obviously, this means that some
students would have to be in
college for more than eight
semesters in order to earn 120
hours of satisfactory grades.
But it also means that flunking a
few courses will not get the student
into so deep a hole that he cannot
get out. As long as he does not
fail more than the prescribed
number of courses each year, he
can stay in school and not have his
quality point average hurt.
The proposal, if accepted by the
faculty, would remove some of the
punitive aspects of the present
system.
As it now stands, a student who
fails a course loses the hours he
attempted and lowers his quality
point average. He is paying twice
for flunking one course. Under the.
proposed system, he would still lose
the hours, but would not lose out
in overall average unless he flunked
too many courses.
Supporters of the proposed
change hope that it will help each
student to clarify his own academic
position.
Because of the complexities of
the present system, a student is not
always sure that he can bring up
his average in time to graduate with
a 2.0. He may plod along and
waste time until his junior year,
when he finally realizes that he
“Spring
election
schedule”
February 9&10, 1972 —
Nominations for the following
offices; a. President; b. Vice
President; c. Student Union
Board (7 seats); d. Six (6)
Senate seats (nominations
made by legislators on Feb.
7, 1972; for 12 people.)
February 23 & 24, 1972 —
Elections for previously
nominated offices.
February 28 & 29, 1972 —
Nominations for the following
offices: a. Editor's of the
Newspaper, Year Book,
Literary Magazine, Radio
Station; b. Business Managers
of the Newspaper, Year
Book, Literary Magazine,
Radio Station; c. Student
Court Judges (5); d. Any
constitutional amendments.
March 8 & 9, 1972 -
Elections for previously
nominated offices.
March 15 & 16, 1972 -
Nominations for the following
offices: a. Student Legislature
(excluding Freshman
President, Commuter
Representatives and Dorm
Representatives); b. 4 Student
Senators by petition and 4
Faculty Senators by petition.
March 27 & 28, 1972 -
Election of previously
nominated offices.
-furnished by
SGA Elections
Committee
cannot get his average up.
With the proposed system, a
student would know exactly where
he stands. He will be able to tell
early whether he should continue in
school or drop out for a few years
and try later.
If a student did leave and
decided to come back a few years
later, some of his "no credits"
would probably be "forgiven," or
erased. He would not have to
worry about bringingup a low QP
in order to graduate.
There is some disagreement about
whether the new system would raise
the standards for graduation or not.
The proposed system would require
120 hours of C or better work. By
placing a premium on a grade of C,
it may be saying in effect that a
student with 120 hours of C's is
better qualified than a student with
60 hours of B's and 60 hours of
D's.
But proponents of the change
feel that the advantages of
floundering or slow-starting students
would outweigh the disadvantages.
A formal proposal will be
presented at a general faculty
meeting in the near future. A
faculty committee has been working
on the proposal since November.
Holshouser
here
Republican gubernatorial candidate
Jim Holshouser will appear in an
open discussion session with
students at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday,
February 8, on the 10th floor of
the Dalton Library Tower.
Although the discussion will be
primarily between Holshouser and
students, other interested persons
are invited to attend and observe.
UNCCs
student
newspaper
volume vii, number 15 /february 7, 1972
•lOWSSAtL
Patterson ?
non-entity President
by j. Charles autrey
"Sometimes I feel as if I'm the president of a norventity," Stan
Patterson said in an interview last week. The non-entity of his reference is
of course, the body of 4000-odd practitioners of vending-machine learning
that comprise most of the student body here at UNCC.
In the interview, he told this reporter of the manifold opportunities of
student involvement in affairs both academic and governmental that go
largely unfulfilled because of the lack of students sufficiently interested to
do the work.
I n several instances, the hard
work and planning of a few
talented and dedicated individuals
will go to waste for the want of a
few interested students to give
substance to their ideas.
One such instance is the
Rathskeller idea conceived by the
departed, lamented Charlie Sutton.
Thanks to the efforts of about 6
per cent of the student body, the
Coffeehouse addition to the Student
Union could easily become a viable
social institution by the end of this
year.
Sutton has convinced an
initially-skeptical Administration;
student - architect Scott Farraby
has drawn up and finalized the
plans; and provisions for funding
have been made.
After all this effort, the project
may die stillborn for the want of
51 dedicated, hardworking students
to serve on the Coffeehouse Board
and bring the idea into fruition. If
the Rathskellar fails, the
responsibility will be the private
albatross of UNCC's Servomation
Students.
Students not interested in
administration might be interested
in a co-ordinating group on campus
known as the Student Volunteer
Program. It's being run by Tom
Cassidy, a man who worked with
distrubed children before coming
here. The SVP is tremendously
flexible in the scope of its
operations, and it offers practically
unlimited opportunities in social
service and research.
If a student wanted to, say,
teach a bunch of ghetto kids the
finer points of Shinto Buddhism, all
he would have to do would be to
contact the SVP and they would
put him in touch with the right
people. There are already about 40
people in this rewarding program.
but it has room for many more.
There are many other positions
badly in need of personnel. For
example. President Stan was charged
at the beginning of the year to
find interested students to serve on
the Chancellor's Committees. These
are committees of students set up
to advise the Administration on
student affairs of all types,
including parking, curriculum,
entertainment, and other important
areas.
A person on one of these
committees could wield a fair bit
of influence in determining school
policy, but the existing structures
are either understaffed or totally
vacant, leaving the Chancellor
woefully unadvised.
The Abortion Loan Committee
needs mature, responsible students
to help counsel mothers-to-be or
not-to-be under the supervision of
doctors and gynecologists. The
Student Union Board needs Staff
members for next year. Other
committees, social, and service
groups too numerous to mention
suffer the same plight.
It would seem that out of 4700
undergraduates at UNCC that more
than a few dozen would be
interested in their school's affairs-
The SGA is thinking of installiffl
branch offices in the commuter
complex and other buildings around
the campus to bring these
opportunities closer to the students,
particularly the commuters. So (er.-
the most successful approach ha®
been for already involved students
to contact their friends and brin9
them into the circle of activism.
While this approach is working,
is not working fast enough. Th
result is that a few people,
beyond all reason, are doing in®
work of many. Sometimes the work
is done hastily; sometimes, not a
all.
If it seems that nothing ever ge*"
done at this University, it is no
primarily the fault of the institutio^
concerned. The structures exist; be
there are no p)eople to fill tbem-
The Kingdom was lost for the prk-
of a nail.
A FABLE
Once upon a time in the
land of Neverwas there was
a student. This student
worked very hard anu
diligently especially in his
Hypersensical Nonsense
class. He made A’s on all
of his examinations sH
through the class. At tne
end of the course he
surprised when
instructor gave him an
on the course. The studen
went to the instructor an
asked him politely why
had received an F when h
had made A’s on
examinations. t \
instructor informed n’
that it was not his P® ’ jg
to make public
criterion for grading.
his
student then went to
advisor who told him iP
he could appeal the
to the instructor but ^ ,
advised tliat he not
at all. Thus was
student shafted.
{See page 12 for fable's key and
moral.)