Spring term academic policies: course planning, grading, and exams

May 21, 2021

Dear Colleagues,

This message is to remind you of several academic policies that may affect your course planning, grading, and exam schedules for spring 2021. This message covers the following topics:

Incompletes

Posted grades must represent an assessment of the work accomplished by the student in the course. An incomplete may be issued when the quality of work is satisfactory, but some minor yet essential requirement has not been completed. Details about the incomplete option are available on the Office of the Registrar website.

For students with incompletes that will convert to an F or N at the end of Spring 2021, instructors can update grades after the deadline for students who have completed the incomplete work by submitting the Supplementary Grade Report Form to the Office of the Registrar. The F or N will be changed to the grade submitted via the form. 

Please note that the Office of the Registrar now has the Supplementary Grade Report as an online form for ease of access for current faculty and staff.

Registered students who did not attend or participate in any part of a course

For registered students who did not attend or participate, an F or N grade should be recorded in Duckweb, and the new “non-attendance” box should be checked. Do not check the box if the students attended or participated in any portion of the course. Enter a Last Date of Attendance (LDA) instead.

Attendance and religious observances

The University of Oregon is committed to compliance with all applicable state and federal laws, and regulations relating to religious accommodations of its stakeholders, and respects the right of all students and employees to observe their religious holidays. Faculty and staff will make reasonable accommodations, upon request, for such observances. Students who needed to be absent from a class for religious obligation or observance reasons had to make arrangements with instructors by the end of the second week of the term by completing the Student Religious Accommodation Request form found on this page.

You can use the Religious Observances Calendar to identify events, classes, exams, or UO activities that may intersect with religious observances. 

Dead Week

Faculty legislation controls assignments that may be required during the last week of regular classes, commonly known as Dead Week.

In the week preceding final examinations during fall, winter, and spring terms:

  • No examination worth more than 20% of the final grade will be given, apart from make-up examinations.
  • No final examinations will be given under any guise.
  • No projects will be due unless they have been clearly specified on the class syllabus within the first two weeks of the term.
  • Take-home examinations will be due no earlier than the day of the formally assigned final examination for the class in question.

Exam Conflicts (not including Law students)

If a student is scheduled for two or more exams at the same time, the following procedures assist with resolving the conflict:

  • For regular courses with examinations scheduled at the same time, the course with the largest enrollment must provide an alternate examination;
  • For conflicts between regular courses and combined examinations, the combined examination course must provide the alternate examination;
  • For combined examinations with conflicts, the largest combined enrollment course must provide the alternate examination.

Students unable to resolve examination conflicts with their instructors may contact the Office of Academic Advising for assistance.

Law students should not contact their UO Law School course instructor over an exam conflict because the law school uses an anonymous grading system for its exams. Law students who have exam conflicts should immediately submit an Exam Change Request form in MyLaw or contact the Law School’s Student Affairs Office.

Post-season Contests and Final Exams

Each term, there may be UO athletic teams with a strong possibility of being invited to post-season competitions. The athletic events listed below are official university-sponsored events, and as such, provides a legitimate excuse for student participants (e.g. team members, cheerleaders, band members, etc.) to be absent from regularly scheduled exams.

Students are encouraged to speak with their instructors prior to the athletic event to arrange for the completion of course work and final examinations in the case of such anticipated absences. For procedural recommendations, please review the Office of the Provost website.

Potential NCAA championship conflicts for spring 2021:

  • Men’s Baseball
  • Women’s Softball
  • Men’s Track and Field
  • Women’s Track and Field

Academic Council COVID-related Expectations

The Academic Council Expectations for Spring term will continue into Summer term. They can be found here

Further Information

If you have questions about these policies, or are faced with a situation you are unable to resolve, please contact us at execviceprovost@uoregon.edu.

Sincerely,

Janet Woodruff-Borden
Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs