By Sarah Stovall
The Student Government Association is beginning the spring semester with a focus on the A-plus initiative, which will potentially increase the value of an A-plus grade above that of an A.
“This is a concern we’ve heard a lot from students about the fact that an A and an A-plus are worth the same,” said Brandon McReynolds, the press secretary for SGA and a sophomore political science major. “We’re trying to address those concerns.”
With the A-plus initiative, the A-plus will now be worth 4.3 points in a student’s grade point average. Some students have wondered how the implementation of the program will affect their grades.
“I’m so used to 4.0 being the big goal, and especially with grad school not being too far away, I’m wondering how this might impact the appearance of my GPA,” said Ben Heckel, a junior music major. “If they make it retroactive and convert previous grades to the new system, I wouldn’t have a problem.”
However, the new initiative will not act retroactively.”This is something that is hard to change since past students whose GPA would be affected with this new scale can’t really go back and reapply to graduate schools,” Ben Donlon, an SGA senator and a junior biochemistry and mathematics double major, said on the “Make the A+ Count at UofL” Facebook page in July.
According to the minutes of the Nov. 2 Senate meeting, the SGA is beginning to make headway in implementing the program, even beginning collaborations with Dale Billingsley, the vice provost.
“Met with Dr. Billingsley this week and he is sending out a letter to the Dean’s that the A+ initiative will go into effect this spring,” reads the meeting’s minutes.
While the initiative was expected to take effect in spring of 2011, delays have postponed its implementation.
“There are just a lot of people you have to talk to to clear something like this,” said McReynolds. “Where we stand, it looks like it’s likely to be put into effect in fall of 2011.”
SGA also has several other goals for this semester, such as working to build further flexibility into the mandatory meal plan and lengthening the period during which a student may drop a class without earning a W on his or her transcript.
“If students want to further their education after their undergraduate degree, those Ws might not be something they want on their transcript,” said McReynolds. “Lengthening the amount of time they have to drop a class will help to eliminate some of them.”
The SGA Senate has yet to meet this semester, with inclement weather causing the session to be canceled twice. When the session does convene, the Arts and Sciences Council will welcome a new senator, filling the position that was left vacant for the spring semester.
“The open seat came as a result of an Arts and Sciences senator stepping down due to other outstanding outside leadership positions,” said Allison Hunter, the Arts and Sciences Senate president and a senior biology major. “He felt it appropriate to remove himself in order to open the position to others willing to make the full time commitment to student government.”
According to Hunter, Cody Graudick, a sophomore English major, will fill the position. He has been involved in SGA since his freshman year.
Recently, SGA hosted the university’s first recognized student organization summit – a mini-conference designed to provide helpful resources for campus leaders.
“This time will let students be able to grow, ask questions and learn about what they can do to make the RSO they are in even better,” reads the SGA service account e-mail released to students on Jan. 16.
The RSO summit included a fair allowing current RSOs to present information about their mission, programming and membership opportunities. This event was free and open to all students.
For more information about the work of SGA and plans for the spring semester, visit uoflsga.org.
