In emails sent out to students on Friday evening, the deans of CC, GS, SEAS, and Barnard outlined possible next steps for students in classes affected by the strike to receive credit for the Fall 2021 semester.

On Friday evening, students of Columbia’s four undergraduate schools received an email sent by their respective deans providing updates on the university’s contingency plan for courses impacted by the ongoing SWC strike. In particular, the emails suggested that students in disrupted classes who are not able to receive their final letter grade will be temporarily granted the transcript notation “CP,” or “Credit Pending,” which refers to situations when students have made satisfactory progress in a course, but for another reason, coursework must continue beyond the end of the term. However, the deans assured students that these notations would later be converted to either a letter grade or P/D/F grade for the same amount of credit, once “additional instruction, assessment, and grading have taken place,” although it was not explicitly stated whether this referred to a possible end to the strike. The full text of each email can be found below. 

Dean Valentini, Dean Rosen-Metsch, and Interim Dean Chang assured students that the university is “committed” to ensuring all students receive full credit for the semester and are currently meeting with faculty department heads to strategize a variety of contingency plans, which will be shared with all students before the end of the semester. Barnard College Dean Leslie Grinage expressed similar sentiments, ensuring students that they will be able to earn full credit if they choose to. Beyond the “CP” option, the email sent to CC and GS students also implied they will have opportunities to complete their credits during both the spring semester and the summer, with more details to become available before the end of this semester.  

In addition to these options, the emails also stated that CC, GS, and Barnard will extend their deadline to declare the Pass/D/Fail option for a class to Wednesday, December 15, although the deadline for SEAS remains December 13. This comes after all four schools had previously extended their deadlines to Monday, December 13, and allowed students the option to P/D/F courses counting towards their major and core requirements.

Butler via Bwarchives