VP Academic advocates for continued Credit Granted option at SLC

By Enobong Ukpong, October 11 2021—

This week’s Students’ Legislative Council (SLC) meeting was held on Oct. 5. The main topic of discussion was an update on the Credit Granted Option.

The Credit Granted (CG) Option is an option for students to receive a letter grade of CR (Credit Received) in place of a letter grade, as long as their letter grade is above a C-. These accommodations have been in place since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

“I want to affirm today that we do remain committed to fighting on behalf of students for the widespread adoption of this accommodation moving forward,” said Renzo Pererya, vice president academic. 

Pererya stated that he and Nicole Schmidt, Students’ Union president, have worked to ensure this accommodation was carried into the Fall 2021 semester, however, he is aware that faculties are able to impose more restrictions for when students can claim a CG option. 

“We did receive commitment that all students would have ‘reasonable access’ to CG,” he said.

However, Pererya stated that the Schulich School of Engineering is planning to restrict access to CG in all 40 of their courses, and that other faculties are likely to follow suit with more “stringent” requirements.

Pererya reassured the SLC that any changes to CG requirements would need to go through General Faculties Council (GFC) subcommittees that he and Schmidt sit on. “We will be vocal and active with your concerns to fight for you,” said Pererya. Schmidt and Pererya have booked several meetings with faculties that they expect to have the most stringent restrictions.

Pererya encourages faculty representatives to speak up if they hear anything in regards to CG restrictions in their faculties.

“We want to ensure that restrictions are fair, necessary, and helpful, and that the university is not just abusing their power,” he said.

Agendas, minutes and upcoming meetings for SLC can be found online.