The University is allowing students to declare spring 2020 courses as pass/fail until Aug. 7, and these pass/fail courses will count toward major continuation and graduation requirements. The Dean's List will be suspended for the spring semester.
Students enrolled in graduate courses, including undergraduate students, will follow the decision of their school’s dean for pass/fail declaration.
This grading exception, announced in a campus-wide email from Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz on Friday, is in response to the outbreak of COVID-19 and UNC beginning remote classes on March 23.
Guskiewicz said in the email that a passing grade will not count toward a student's GPA, but will count toward earned semester hours. He said students' transcripts will have a note indicating "the major disruption this pandemic has caused to the academic experience."
The email also said that students who are unable to complete their work due to hardships presented by COVID-19 will receive a new grade of "CV," rather than an Incomplete. Students who receive a "CV" will have three more months to complete their work than they would for an Incomplete, Guskiewicz said in the email.
This grading exception from the University follows similar decisions from schools including Duke University and Georgetown University. Students previously petitioned UNC to move to a pass/fail grading option due to obstacles presented by digital learning.
"Our faculty continue to show great compassion for their students, and that has never been more evident than the past week as we contemplate the challenges all of you are now facing in this new reality," Guskiewicz said in the email. "We all understand the uncertainty and anxiety that moving to a remote teaching format may cause our students, and we want to offer as much flexibility as possible to support the academic goals of our community."
For more information about the emergency grading exception, see the University policy.
