Dear Students,
I hope you are doing well during this semester. With a full year of the COVID-19 pandemic behind us, I want you to know that Adelphi University is working hard to make certain you have the resources you need to be successful.
The Adelphi University Faculty Senate recently made two decisions that are important for you to know about:
- In accordance with the recommendations of the Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Standards and the Faculty Senate Committee on Admissions and Retention, the Faculty Senate has voted to extend the period during which you may withdraw from a course. The deadline for withdrawals has been moved from March 30, 2021, to April 26, 2021. This change applies to the Spring 2021 term only.
- Also, based on recommendations of the Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Standards and the Committee on Admissions and Retention, the Faculty Senate has made the decision not to extend the Pass/No Credit (P/NC) grading option into the current (Spring 2021) semester. Traditional grading policies will remain in effect.
The rationale for these decisions was that, in Spring 2020, the sudden shift from in-person to online teaching and learning was disruptive to both faculty and students. The decision to allow students to change their grading option from a letter grade to Pass/No Credit, and to allow General Education classes and most major classes to earn credit with just a grade of Pass, was made to mitigate the negative effects of the sudden shift to online instruction and to help students stay on track for program completion without jeopardizing their grade point averages. The Faculty Senate voted to extend this option into the Fall 2020 term at the request of many student groups who expressed fear that the ongoing effects of unfamiliar online education were still putting students in a similarly precarious position.
For Spring 2021, however, the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, its committees and its senators believed that the hard work of faculty to improve their online instruction—through the valuable help of the Faculty Center for Professional Excellence (FCPE)—together with students’ increased familiarity with the new modalities, have mitigated the need for such an extreme accommodation.
The Faculty Senate recognizes, however, that the stresses of the ongoing pandemic are still negatively affecting both students and faculty, leaving some students uncertain about their ability to earn a passing grade later into the semester than is usual. To allow students to avoid unnecessary failing grades, the Faculty Senate recommended to the Office of the Provost that the withdrawal deadline be extended to give both faculty and students more time to assess student progress and to determine whether it is in the students’ best interests to stay in a course which they might fail, or to withdraw.
Please note that the withdrawal date is not connected to the refund schedule, which remains unchanged.
I encourage you to review these options with your academic adviser and to seek out additional academic support if you so desire. Our Learning and Writing Centers are fully operational, offering tutoring and skills development by appointment. For more information about these services, email learningcenter@adelphi.edu or, to schedule an appointment, use the centers’ online scheduling tool.
Best wishes for a successful remainder of the semester.
Sincerely,
Steve Everett
Provost and Executive Vice President