The university announced it would be reopening the pass-fail registration for the 2022 Fall semester, according to an email sent by upper administration to community members. The pass-fail registration was reopened in light of the accident that occurred on Nov. 19.
“We know that everyone reacts to tragedy differently, depending on one’s history, relationships, and personal style. Some students find returning to a normal routine to be helpful, while other students need more time and space to navigate grief,” reads the email to community members.
The new date for students to declare they’d like to pass-fail or credit- no credit a course was extended to Wednesday, Dec. 7 by 5 p.m. ET, according to the email. The extension was granted in an attempt to, “help alleviate the academic pressure [students] may be facing,” reads the email. Undergraduate students had the option to switch a course to pass-fail whereas graduate students had the opportunity to change from credit to no credit.
Normal regulations for taking a class pass-fail are still in place, according to the email. Students —in accordance with these policies—are only allowed to take one class pass-fail in a single semester. The class, if taken pass-fail, will not meet major or minor requirements according to the university’s academic regulations page. Students were also reminded that if they switch a class to pass-fail it may not meet the requirements for post-graduate opportunities like medical school, law school or graduate school. However, at the graduate level, if students elected to take a course as credit- no credit it will meet their program requirements, according to the email.
With the extension, the email also recommended to faculty members to allow for “extra absences, offering remote participation in classes, late submissions of work and offering alternative formats for exams or even optional exams for students in good standing.”
The email noted that the structure of the class would affect how flexible a professor could be. According to the email, “it is up to each faculty member to decide what, if any, changes they can make and to communicate any such options or alternative plans to students in their classes.”
For students wishing to declare a course as pass-fail they were encouraged to email passfail@brandeis.edu with their first and last name, their student ID number, the course department, title and the course number. Students in the email should write that they wish to take the course pass-fail. If students are looking to change the course they had initially selected to be pass-fail they can communicate this in the email.
For graduate students, they have to email registrar@brandeis.edu with the Fall 2022 course that they wish to convert to credit-no credit, along with the same information required for undergraduate students.
