SACUA has issued the following statement on the Role of the Faculty Regarding Grading:
Associate Dean Tim McKay, in an email on April 17, 2023, indicates that the administration is
expecting and ordering chairs to appoint “alternate faculty” to calculate and enter grades in
classes where the GSIs are the sole instructors of record, and is asking chairs to report faculty
who do not comply with this directive. [The email reads “Generally, the responsibility for
calculating and reporting grades rests with the instructor of record, who is appointed by the
department chair. When an instructor will not report grades, the chair may appoint an alternate to
complete this task. If a faculty member refuses to report grades, we recommend that the chair
contact their Divisional Associate Dean for help.”];
Assessment of student work is the prerogative of the instructor, and demands thoughtful and
holistic evaluation of student performances;
A directive to outsource grading demands that we faculty engage in a pedagogical assessment of
students we have not taught and do not know, which is a violation of professional ethics;
Bypassing faculty-of-record and hiring third party graders is an infringement on faculty freedom;
The Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs (SACUA)
1. urges Provost McCauley, President Ono, and the Deans of the various schools to respect academic
and pedagogic freedom and cease or correct any directives that require faculty or non-academic
staff to enter grades in place of GSIs.
2. urges faculty to reject requests to grade students they have not taught.
Approved by SACUA: 4/21/2023 (6-2-0)