5.1.6 CHANGING GRADES
An Instructor of Record may change a mark once it has been reported to Office of the University Registrar’s only if (a) the change is made within one (1) year of the date of the original grade and (b) only in the case the original grade was in error. Reports of all such grade changes shall be sent to the Office of the University Registrar with a copy to the dean of the college in which the instructor is assigned. For situations in which both the course and Instructor of Record are housed outside of a college, Provost will appoint an officer to act as the responsible dean of the course.
The Instructor of Record may also recommend to their department chair the changing of a grade for any reason other than an error. The grade shall be changed if the department chair approves. In every such approval, a report of the grade change shall be sent to the Office of the University Registrar by the department chair with a copy to the Instructor of Record and dean of the college involved. There shall be only one (1) grade change per student per course pursuant to this rule. No grade may be changed after the student has graduated from the University, except in the case of the error provided for above.
* The Instructor of Record for the course is authorized to make the final decision to change a grade in cases of an error (e.g., miscalculation of the grade, or entry of the wrong grade). In other cases, an Instructor of Record is authorized to initiate and make a grade change only if the department chair agrees to the change. (The department chair's role in this case is only to agree or disagree with the change, not to make the change independent of the Instructor of Record.)
* If a change is made to an originally submitted grade that is not a change, that action does not prevent the Instructor of Record from correcting that improperly changed grade to the originally submitted grade; this correction does not count as the one (1) permitted grade change. If, on the other hand, the Instructor of Record (and, if necessary, the department chair) changes the improperly changed grade to a grade other than the one originally submitted, then this change does count as the one (1) allowed grade change.
* When a grade change may be warranted but the Instructor of Record is no longer available, the University Appeals Board (UAB) would ascertain whether the present grade ought to be changed and, if possible, determine and direct the appropriate specific grade.
However, in the case of a violation of student academic rights, the UAB may change a grade to “P” or “W” or, if such a determination can be made, to an appropriate letter grade.
Graduate and professional schools may have individual rules on this matter, so long as they are consistent with these rules.
* It is a violation for a department chair (or any other administrator) to change the Instructor of Record to a different person after the final course grades have been formally submitted to the Office of the University Registrar, for any reason, including so that the new Instructor of Record can change any of the final course grades. A department chair (or any other administrator) is authorized to change a final course grade without the concurrence of the Instructor of Record who entered that grade only when the chair is changing the temporary transcript notation of “Course in Progress” (---) or “Missing Grade” (***) to a final grade. If a student claims that a change of an already submitted final course grade is warranted, and the Instructor of Record who entered that grade is unwilling to change it, then the proper resolution is for the student to lodge a grade appeal with the UAB.