The LSU Faculty Senate voted Thursday afternoon to table a resolution that would add pluses or minuses to students’ letter grades.
The senate unanimously agreed to revisit the resolution, titled “A Plus or Minus Grading System for LSU,” after the issue was reviewed more closely.
Several faculty members voiced concerns including what the resolution would eventually cost, how it would affect transfer students and what it would mean for students applying to graduate programs.
Don Chance, the finance professor who introduced the resolution, said he was unsure how much the implementation of a new system would cost but had heard that the amount would be relatively minor.
But University Registrar Robert Doolos said that’s not the case.
Doolos said a change to the registrar’s software, in addition to paying people to work on the system, would cost the University a significant amount of money.
William Stickle, biological sciences professor, said he was worried about what a grading system change would mean for students applying to graduate programs like law school and medical school, which scrutinize students’ GPAs.
He also said he thought the change would cause more students to be upset with their grades.
“I’d say 90 percent of our students are pre-med,” he said. “They’d slit your throat for a tenth of a point. I imagine the grade appeals would increase exponentially.”
Andrea Houston, associate professor for the Department of Information Systems and Decision Sciences, spoke during the debate and suggested that the University assemble a task force to look into the issue.
Houston said it was important the Faculty Senate think of all the University’s stakeholders, on and off campus, while making the decision.
Thomas Rodgers, Student Government director of academics, said SG posted a status on its Facebook page asking for students’ responses to the resolution.
He said it’s important for students to be represented in the decision because of what it might mean for them.
“It’s going to affect student aid, eligibility for student organization involvement  — a lot of things,” Rodgers said. “It’s a wide-sweeping change.”
SG passed a resolution last semester opposing the proposed new system.
He said he agreed with Houston’s task force suggestion.
“Andrea Houston is entirely correct,” he said. “People’s voices need to be heard.”
Rodgers said SG received more than 150 responses through e-mail, and only three were in favor of the resolution.
He said many students were concerned with how soon the system would be changed.
Since the new grading
system would have to be described in the University’s course catalog, it couldn’t be put in place until the 2013-2014 academic year.
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Contact Rachel Warren at
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