Student Government debated two topics– a new class retake policy and an amended election timeframe, at its Senate meeting Wednesday in the Capital Chamber.
Scott Sullivan, senator of the College of Science, proposed amending the class retake policy, which currently allows students who have made a D or F in a course to retake the class for a second time.
In the past, once a student has completed the course for the second time, both grades will be averaged into the final grade. For example, if a student earns a D on their first try and an A on their second try, the overall grade will be averaged into a B. Unless under a dean’s discretion, students are not allowed to retake a class three times.
Sullivan proposed that students should be allowed to retake a class regardless of their final grade.
“I believe amending the current policy to allow all students a type of class forgiveness will allow for us to stay on par with peer institutions that have the same policy,” he said.
The hours for the course will only be counted once, and the student’s second attempted grade will count towards their GPA.  The better grade of the two will no longer count, Sullivan said.
The new policy would also allow students to retake up to three classes or no more than 11 hours. For example, two five-hour courses, such as calculus, and a one-hour lab may count, he said.
Under the new policy, no time limit will be imposed, which would allow a student to retake a class in their senior year which they originally took freshman year, he said.
Sullivan said students found guilty of academic dishonesty will excluded.
Senate members also passed the amendment to extend election voting times until 7 p.m. in a 31-13 vote. The voting process will now be 19 hours as opposed to the 15 hours from last year.
 
Ariel Jones, senator of the University Center for Freshman Year, said she would like to see the hours extended for students who are busy during the day.
“Seven pm is a good compromise,” she said. “This would favor the student body more. We are working for the students, and more students are being reached out to by extending this vote.”
Jackson Voss, assistant director of First Year Experience, said about 600 students, which amounted to about 15 percent of the total votes, were submitted between 4:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. during the last election.
Voss said he thinks the extension is not realistic.
“There was a huge rush for half the day, and later on, there were much fewer students,” he said.
Theo Williams, senator in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, said he thinks the 600 students is a significant number of voters.
“We need to give the opportunity to students after offices have closed,” he said to the senators. “We should do this for the sake of the students who elect time.”
 
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Contact Kate Mabry at [email protected]