Fall 2014
Dear Colleagues,
The Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate has been asked to provide guidance to faculty who are approached by students who were arrested during the recent demonstrations and were thus unable to adequately prepare for final exams or complete final projects or papers.
There is no Senate policy that dictates a specific course of action in such instances and instructors should use their individual discretion in responding to such requests. Instructors do not have the authority to waive final examination requirements for undergraduate courses, but they do have the authority to grant Incomplete (I) grades or give an alternate final exam to those students at a different time during the final exam period (in this case, instructors are responsible for making their own arrangements for space). Berkeley Division regulations define an (I) grade as "work incomplete due to circumstances beyond the student's control, but of passing quality". Information about removing (I) grades is available here: http://registrar.berkeley.edu/igrades.html.
Best,
Panos Papadopoulos
Chair, Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate