Affairs office looks to overhaul kinks in greek grade check
By HILARY STOHS-KRAUSE
December 06, 2005
© 2005 Daily Nebraskan
(The University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
As finals loom, some students might find it necessary to bury themselves in textbooks or scramble for extra credit points to try to pass that pesky calculus or nutrition class.
The greek system at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln tries to combat this last-minute worry whirlwind through the use of periodic grade checks, but some instructors are questioning aspects of the practice.
Linda Schwartzkopf, director of UNL Greek Affairs, said all greek chapters on campus have minimum academic standards for members to initiate into a chapter or remain in good standing.
This practice, which Schwartzkopf compared to Athletic Department grade checks for athletes, can be especially important for first-year members wanting to initiate into a chapter.
“The individual in the chapter in charge of scholarship is trying to do a better job of tracking students who might be having academic difficulties,” she said.
However, Rick Alloway, assistant professor of broadcasting, said there has been a marked increase in both the number and frequency of students requesting grade verifications. He spoke about it at the Nov. 9 meeting of UNL’s Academic Senate Executive Committee.
“Basically, I was just notifying (the committee) about action I had already taken,” Alloway said, adding that he had spoken with Schwartzkopf about the matter.
Alloway said he was mainly concerned that students’ right to privacy was accidentally being overlooked. He pointed out that most grade verification request forms don’t require a student signature.
“As a university, we’re restrained from passing out information about student grades to anyone other than the student without their written permission,” he said. “If a parent calls and asks how their student is doing, the university cannot legally tell them without (the student’s) permission. I wanted to make sure that UNL wasn’t at risk …”
Alloway said he was also concerned about the burden that grade checks can place on both the student and faculty members.
“According to the forms, they need to report back every couple of weeks to their greek house,” he said. “To me, that seemed kind of like a burden to students … and probably some of the faculty members that have to keep going through their grade book and sorting things.”
But Alloway said he thought keeping track of academics was a good thing.
Schwartzkopf agreed.
“I think from the chapter standpoint,” she said, “it’s well-intentioned in that they are trying to identify students who might be experiencing academic difficulties and helping them before they get in a situation where maybe it’s too late to raise grades.”
Shannon Doyle, a sophomore secondary education major and member of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority, said her house requires grade checks for freshmen each semester.
“It’s just to make sure that everything’s going OK, and that if the freshman class is falling behind they have an idea,” she said. “It’s mostly for their benefit.”
Doyle said her sorority considers grades to be important because college is about getting an education, not just having fun.
“The efforts of the members reflect on the house as well,” she added.
Alloway said he would like to see more coordination among the various greek houses to make grade verification smoother overall.
“It sounded to me as though a lot of houses were all kind of desiring the same thing, which is keeping track of student work,” he said, “but they weren’t really coordinating it.”
Schwartzkopf said Greek Affairs has discussed the issue and is looking at making recommendations for second semester.
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