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

February 22, 2021

Dear Colleagues,

This message is to remind you of a number of academic policies that may affect your course planning, grading, and exam schedules for winter 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.

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 “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. If students need to be absent from a class for religious obligation or observance reasons, they must make arrangements with instructors in advance.

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, with the exception of 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 UO School of Law students)

In the event that 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 School of Law 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 School of Law’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 winter 2021:

  • Women’s Basketball
  • Men’s Basketball

Academic Council COVID-related Expectations

The Academic Council Expectations for Winter term will continue into Spring 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 OtP@uoregon.edu.

Sincerely,

Janet Woodruff-Borden
Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs