Grading Strikers

Across the country, student strikes have raised an unforeseen question: What about grades, credits and final examinations? Faculties have debated the credit problem as heatedly as they discuss Cambodia, and at most struck campuses the result is a flexible system that basically leaves grades and credit up to the individual student and his teacher.

On most campuses that have remained open, students may receive grades based on work completed before they went on strike, or they may attend class as usual and take a final exam. Alternatively, they may choose a simple "pass" or "fail," or an incomplete and finish up in the fall. Where finals have not been canceled, there is a widespread choice on when to take exams--this spring, during the summer at home or in September back on campus.

Even at totally closed schools, like Boston University, students can receive credit, although they obviously cannot take on-campus finals. A few closed schools have reopened in the face of threatened lawsuits by students seeking to complete formal course work. Graduate students in some disciplines do not have many options, however pro-strike they may be. The New York State Court of Appeals, for instance, has ruled that third-year law students must complete their required class hours and take their finals to qualify for the state bar examinations. For most students, though, the wide range of choice is a strong indication of faculty support for the sentiments that generated the strike movement. At some colleges, in fact, students are receiving credit for work in newly constituted classes on racism and the war in Southeast Asia.

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