From https://www.cuny.edu/coronavirus/guidance-on-academic-continuity-to-campuses/
This takes "New entry not included in previous guidance" entries.
Covers changes (to be approved by the board) on Grading Policies; Academic Calendar and Events; Shared Governance and Contractual Obligations; Distance Learning Platforms, Tools & Resources; Financial Aid and Other Types of Support
Update #8 CUNY COVID-19 Guidance on Academic Continuity
Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and University Provost | March 28, 20200
As we had previously foreshadowed, in response to a change in instructional modality and the disruption the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the lives of our students, faculty and staff, the University Office of Academic Affairs, in consultation with campus presidents and deans, the University Faculty Senate, and the University Student Senate, has determined the need for a flexible grading policy that will provide students maximum flexibility as they navigate the challenges associated with the University’s move to distance learning and the effects of our City’s social distancing guidelines on their personal lives. The proposed policy, subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees on March 30, is reproduced below for convenience. Please know that detailed implementation plan and FAQs based on questions raised during the development of this policy will be published in due order.
As part of The City University of New York’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, during the Spring 2020 semester, all students shall have the option to convert any or all of the (A-F) letter grades they earn in their classes, to Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) grading.
During the Spring 2020 semester, all students shall have the option to convert any or all of the (A-F) letter grades they earn in their classes, to Credit/No Credit grading.
Students shall be able to make this decision up to 20 business days after the University’s final grade submission deadline. Once selected, the CR/NC option cannot be cannot be reversed.
If a student chooses to exercise this option, a passing letter grade (A, B, C, or D) will convert to ‘CR’ with credit for the class being awarded, while a failing grade (F) will convert to ‘NC’, with no credit awarded. Credit/No Credit grades will not impact the student’s GPA.
Courses taken for a letter grade will continue to be included in the semester and general GPA, while courses taken for a Credit/Non-credit grade will be excluded, just as is the case with such courses taken at a student’s home institution.
If a student exercises the option of Credit/No Credit, the Credit (CR) grade will not negatively impact the student’s satisfactory progress toward degree completion.
Students with Credit/No Credit grades will be able to transfer those courses across colleges within CUNY, per current CUNY policy.
The Special COVID-19 Flexible Grading Policy shall apply to coursework completed on Permit and will not affect Board of Trustees Policy 1.14 – Policy on Coursework Completed on Permit.
Students placed on academic probation by their institution at the start of the Spring 2020 semester shall not be penalized with academic dismissal based upon their grades earned this semester. The Special COVID-19 Flexible Grading Policy shall not affect the University standards of student retention and progress in accordance with Board of Trustees Policy 1.26.
Before choosing this grading option for one or more of their classes, students shall consult with their academic and financial aid advisors regarding potential impact to their financial aid, licensure requirements, and graduate school admissions.
The Special COVID-19 Flexible Grading Policy shall supersede and override all undergraduate and graduate program-level grading policies currently in effect at CUNY colleges and schools, including those related to required and elective courses within the major, minor, general education (Pathways), pre-requisite courses, honors courses, courses taken on permit and maximum number of credits that a student can earn with Credit/No Credit grades.
The grade glossary, attached to each transcript, will be updated to include a notation denoting that all Spring 2020 grades, including CR or NC, were earned during a major disruption to instruction as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Special COVID-19 Flexible Grading Policy shall apply to all CUNY colleges and schools, except the School of Law and the School of Medicine, which may develop their own Pass/Fail policies, subject to approval of the Board of Trustees, to conform to norms in legal and medical education.
The Special COVID-19 Flexible Grading Policy, which shall be effective April 1, 2020, applies to the Spring 2020 semester only and that the Chancellor, may, in his discretion, to meet public health emergency policies and practices, extend this policy to future semesters, if necessary and report such extension to the Board of Trustees immediately.
The Special COVID-19 Flexible Grading Policy shall be codified in the Manual of General Policy as Policy 1.4. and cannot be overwritten by any individual units of the University, including presidents, provosts, or college councils.
The policy will remain in effect for the Spring 2020 semester and will be reviewed by the Chancellor and extended as necessary to meet public health emergency policies and practices.
[skipped, not applicable to CSI]
Per University policy, each student will be expected to maintain a grade point average of at least 1.50 for the first twelve credits, attempted and at least a 1.75 grade point average for the first twenty-four credits, attempted. In each subsequent semester students will be expected to maintain at least a 2.00 grade point average. Students who fail to meet their college’s retention standards or the conditions of an academic or other probation for Spring 2020, are to be placed on continued probation and will not be subject to academic dismissal.
Per the Chancellor’s messages on March 24 and March 25, in an attempt to ensure that no CUNY student is left behind and that the “distance” in distance-learning does not contribute to widening existing opportunity gaps, the University has instituted a Recalibration Period for Educational Equity, that among other important objectives will allow the University and its colleges to put more tablets and laptops in the hands of students who without them would face difficulty in completing the spring 2020 term. As part of the Chancellor’s communication, the following clarifications were made and are reproduced here for convenience:
All 16 colleges will be on pause in the Recalibration Period, no classes will be held, and no assignments or tests should be due during this period. These colleges are: Baruch, BMCC, Brooklyn College, Bronx Community College, City College, City Tech, College of Staten Island, Hostos, Hunter, John Jay, Lehman, Macaulay Honors, Medgar Evers, Queens College, Queensborough Community College and York College. All faculty and students at these schools will be off from Friday, March 27 to Wednesday, April 1 and again from Wednesday, April 8 to Friday, April 10, for a condensed Spring Recess.
Administrators and staff will continue to work as they normally would from March 27 to April 1 and during Spring Recess, albeit remotely in most cases. All local plans to reduce campus density for faculty, staff and students remain in place.
The University’s previously scheduled Spring Recess will now run from Wednesday April 8 through Friday April 10, encompassing the beginning of Passover and Good Friday. For faculty, staff and students whose religious observation extends into the week of April 13, as always you have the right to request a religious exemption to observe the holiday and we will offer maximum flexibility in addressing the requests. CUNY’s guidance for religious exemptions can be found here and we will remind faculty and staff about our guidance as we get closer to that date.
The only schools exempted from the Recalibration Period are professional schools and graduate schools (Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, School of Labor and Urban Studies, School of Law, School of Medicine, School of Professional Studies, School of Public Health and Health Policy, and The Graduate Center) and the community colleges that operate on a different academic calendar (Guttman, Kingsborough and LaGuardia) and just recently started their Spring semester. There are a few other programs exempted including Pre-K to 12 schools in our system and pre-matriculation programs like CUNY Start, Math Start, CLIP and Adult Literacy. Decisions on continuing education and graduate programs are at the discretion of school presidents and deans.
Furthermore, per the original guidance, Schools that offer programs and courses that were being taught online before the broader move to distance learning can proceed with the authorization of campus presidents and deans.
To date, when we consider the losses and gains in instructional days due to CUY’s Instructional Recess and Recalibration Period, the number of instructional days we need to make are as follows: Mondays (1), Tuesdays (1), Wednesdays (1), Thursdays (0), Friday’s (2), Saturdays (1), and Sundays (1). These days, in the absence of regulatory relief, can ultimately be made up using additional assignments to assist students in making up missed work. Such assignments might include interactive projects, supplemental instructional material, preparation of reports, or other assignments at the discretion of the department and the instructor. This is similar to what the University did to make up lost instruction time during Hurricane Sandy. For Sandy, campuses had to “make up” from 5 to 10 days, so we have plenty of wiggle room based on precedent before having consider extending the semester.
As to the University’s previously scheduled Spring Recess, per the Chancellor’s previous communications, it will now run from Wednesday April 8 through Friday April 10, encompassing the beginning of Passover and Good Friday. For faculty, staff and students whose religious observation extends into the week of April 13, as always you have the right to request a religious exemption to observe the holiday and we will offer maximum flexibility in addressing the requests. CUNY’s guidance for religious exemptions can be found here and we will remind faculty and staff about our guidance as we get closer to that date.
Finally, the University — along with several other state colleges — continue to consult stakeholders and monitor the current situation as it moves to complete its course offering for Summer 2020 sessions — especially as it pertains to whether or not distance learning should be primarily or completely privileged.
The University recognizes that the transition to distance learning in the Spring 2020 semester as a result of COVID-19 may cause interruption and delay in faculty research and scholarship. This is particularly critical for faculty advancing toward tenure. Accordingly, the University will permit faculty whose candidacies for tenure are coming up in the fall 2020 semester to receive a one-year extension, if they so desire. Such faculty must request a tenure clock extension by emailing the request to their college Provost by May 1, 2020. Going forward, faculty on the tenure track who subsequently want to request a tenure clock extension based on the circumstances of Spring 2020 must so apply by February 1 in the year immediately preceding their tenure review. Faculty wanting to apply for a tenure clock extension should follow the procedures normally followed at their college for requesting these extensions to tenure review; their request will be subject to fact-specific review, in accordance with past University practice.
During this period of telecommuting, any notices required to be provided to faculty and staff, including those pursuant to Article 10 of the PSC-CUNY collective bargaining agreement regarding notification of appointment/non-reappointment for faculty and staff and Article 13 regarding HEOs, should be sent, at a minimum, to an employee’s CUNY email address. If there is no CUNY email address on file, whatever email address is on file should be used. If possible, especially in cases of non-reappointment, we suggest that multiple methods of communication be used. These may include CUNY email address, personal email address, and text to cell phone number. It is important to use our best efforts to get notification to faculty and staff. We understand that this is an extra burden, but the number of non-reappointments pales in comparison to the number of reappointments, and the colleges must demonstrate strong best efforts to ensure that notice of non-reappointment was effectuated.
Earlier in the week, the University had a conference call with the college Legal and Labor Designees on this issue. Several of the colleges reported that they had tested/were testing systems to be able to hold remote P&B voting. Colleges that were still trying to figure out how to proceed were advised to reach out directly to their colleagues, including those at Lehman College, City College and Baruch College who were among the schools that had worked out a process for these important meetings.
The previously described Recalibration Period for Educational Equity, will allow our colleges to continue their efforts to provide their students with access to the equipment they need to complete their semester requirements under these uncommon and unforeseen circumstances. Information about how students can participate in the tablet/laptop program is being made available by individual colleges via their social medial channels and websites. Device and logistic information have been shared with the colleges. Important to note that after prioritizing degree-seeking students, colleges can allocate devices to students in pre-matriculation programs, Continuing Ed Programs, and faculty who may need them.
While several Blackboard Administrators and faculty have expressed concerns that Blackboard Collaborate would not work on the Chromebooks that CUNY has attained for designated students, staff and faculty, the fact is that CUNY CIS has received official assurances from Blackboard, Inc. that Blackboard Collaborate is indeed compatible with Chromebooks. CIS staff have also tested Collaborate on the Chromebook from both the instructor and student perspective and found that it works smoothly. We also validated operations such as using the whiteboard, polling, uploading PowerPoint and breakout rooms. Additionally, Blackboard Learn student and instructor Chromebook browser tests indicate overall compatibility with the exception that the pop-up blocker should be disabled. CIS is informing the Blackboard Administrators and the Service Desks of the compatibility and test results, as well as sharing with them instructions they developed for getting on Blackboard Collaborate from a Chromebook. These instructions will also be posted on the Blackboard support page (www.cuny.edu/blackboard) and on a support site for those receiving Chromebooks and iPads (www.cuny.edu/loaners).
CUNY OAA is working in conjunction with EAB and CUNY Finance and Procurement to accelerate the addition of graduate students to the EAB Navigate implementation. The anticipated final approval of the contract expansion is at the May Board of Trustees meeting; in recognition of the importance of the tool to the CUNY colleges during the current crisis, EAB has agreed to provide this service in advance of the contract amendment. We believe that this will provide a valuable tool for communicating with graduate students. Queens College requested this acceleration and has pointed out several benefits of this added functionality. It will:
Expedite finding contact information for any graduate students reporting COVID-19 exposure
Facilitate sending communications to graduate students
Allow us to track COVID-19 related issues (such as need laptop, need Wi-Fi, need tutoring, need space to work, need special financial or academic advice)
Allow graduate students to stay connected to their graduate advisors, by being able to book appointments with them virtually.
This functionality will provide a vital tool to all of the OAA, CIS, and EAB will immediately begin work on the implementation of this functionality. Associate University Provost for Planning Bob Maruca will update the EAB Navigate program sponsors and owners on implementation progress. He can be contacted at Robert.Maruca@cuny.edu should you have any questions. We are grateful to EAB for this demonstration of partnership and support.
Student Veterans will continue to receive their GI Bill benefits under S. 3503, which President signed into law March 21. The law enables VA to continue providing the same level of education benefits to students having to take courses online due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The law gives VA temporary authority to continue GI Bill payments uninterrupted in the event of national emergencies. This allows for continued payment of benefits even if the program has changed from resident training to online training. Thanks to the law, GI Bill students will continue receiving the same monthly housing allowance (MHA) payments they received for resident training until Dec. 21, or until the school resumes in-person classes. Students receiving GI Bill benefits are not required to take any action. Benefits will continue automatically. VA will work closely with schools to ensure accurately certified enrollments and timely processing. Updates will be provided to students via direct email campaigns and social media regarding VA’s effort to implement these new changes. For more information, please contact Lisa Beatha, CUNY Director for Veterans Affairs, at lisa.beatha@cuny.edu.
A $2 trillion COVID-19 Relief bill passed yesterday, of which, $14 billion was allocated to Education. This must now be put into action by USED, and it should include guidance on how institutions will indicate students affected by this emergency, and direction on implementation. The relief includes:
Emergency aid based on enrollment of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) recipients, for both the students in the form of emergency grant and for the institution to assist with expenses incurred due to COVID-19;
More flexibility in the managing of the FWS and the SEOG programs; including allowing “emergency SEOG” to be awarded up to the maximum Pell award amount, and permitting FWS to continue to get paid during the emergency.
If able to administer by USED, loans and Pell grant will not count as having being used for students unable to complete the term;
Instituting a waiver process where the amount of grant or loan associated with each withdrawn student would not have to be returned by the school or the student;
Removes the “attempted” credits requirement of the Satisfactory Academic Progress calculations;
Extends Leave of Absences process to standard colleges permitting students to return and complete courses at a later time;
For the duration of the declared emergency, it will allow Title IV-participating foreign institutions the ability to offer distance education;
Suspends interest and payments until 9/30/20 of all Direct Loans.