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5.1.4 AUDIT

Students who register for an audit do so for reasons other than fulfilling explicit requirements. They must come to individual agreements with the instructor as to what responsibilities they will be expected to perform. Normally, students who audit would be expected to do the readings and attend class; they may be required to enter more fully into the class work. In any case, they will receive no credit hours or grades. Any change from audit to credit or credit to audit by a student regularly enrolled in a college must be accomplished within three (3) weeks from the beginning of classes in the fall or spring semester (or a proportionate amount of time in the summer session or other courses of less than a full semester's duration). No credit can be conferred for a class audited nor is a student permitted to take an examination for credit, except for the special examinations described in 5.2.1.2.

A student who initially enrolls in a class as an auditor must attend at least 80% of the classes in the course (excluding excused absences). If a student changes their enrollment from credit to audit, they must attend at least 80% of the remaining classes (excluding excused absences). If an auditor fails to attend the requisite number of classes, the Instructor of Record may request that the Dean of the instructor's college award the grade of W for that course and the Dean shall report the grade to the Registrar. For situati9ons in which both the course and Instructor of Record are homed outside of a college, the Dean is the officer appointed by the Provost, with concurrence of the Senate, to act as the responsible Dean of the course. No instructor is authorized to admit anyone as an auditor to any of their classes unless the auditor has registered as such. [US: 10/11/76; US: 12/10/90; US: 9/20/93; US: 4/10/2000; 5/2/2022]

Clarification:

From: Collett, DeShana <DCollettPAC@uky.edu>

Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2022 11:24 AM

To: Academic Ombud <OMBUD@uky.edu>

Cc: Brothers, Sheila C. <sbrothers@uky.edu>

Subject: Re: SR clarification on 5.14

Good morning,

I hope all is well. The current SR 5.1.4 rule does not give the instructor the authority to refuse to allow a student to enroll in a course with a grade option of audit.  

The question is, does the Instructor of Record have the authority to say 'no, I don't want any enrolled auditors.' I do not see inside SR 5.1.4 that the Instructor of Record has the authority to say 'no' unless there is something (external to SR 5.1.4) that is already approved by the Senate specifically for that course that allows such discretion (e.g.,  Senate approval that if seat enrollment is limited, and seats go first to persons enrolled for a grade).  The discretion to 'determine required activities' does not extend to an authority to 'determine not to allow enrollment as auditor.'

The rule states “No instructor is authorized to admit anyone as an auditor to any of his/her classes unless the auditor has registered as such”,  This means no person can audit a class without enrolling as an audit. The descriptors “audit” and auditor” means  that a person is present to obtain educational edification.

Best,DC