Text of March 28, 2003 e-mail from Craig Oren, ASRA Committee Co-chair, to Ken Swalagin
SUBJECT:  Charge S-0106:  "Explore the question of whether minus grades should be added to the default University grading system."
 

ASRAC agreed at its March 28 meeting with my recommendation that the topic of plus/minus grades be deferred indefinitely. The Committee therefore does not foresee action on this item in the near future.

 Professor Craig N. Oren

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 17:51:35 -0500 (EST)
From: Craig Oren <oren@camden.rutgers.edu>
To: ASRA Committee
Subject: Re: Meeting, March 28

Just so you know, I will recommend at our March 28 meeting that the topic of introducing plus/minus grades be put in storage.

About a thousand students are cross-registered between Rutgers-Newark and NJIT. NJIT is on the current Rutgers grading system, and has no desire to change. If Rutgers changes, but they don't, then the cross-registered students would be under two different grading systems, which seems clearly undesirable. Maybe NJIT would change if Rutgers does, but it seems inappropriate to pressure them. We need NJIT to cooperate to make cross-registrationwork.

You might think that the answer would be to keep Newark on its present system, while having the rest of the University change. This wouldn't work either. There are about a thousand students who take courses that enroll both Newark and New Brunswick students. If New Brunswick changes and Newark doesn't, then those teaching such classes would have to apply different grading systems to each campuses' students. This seems undesirable, too.

I suggest that we place the topic in storage until restructuring/merger are sorted out. Possibly NJIT would be more amenable to change.

 Professor Craig N. Oren