Summarized below are the formal policies that apply to course scheduling and grading, examinations and syllabi, and for most of these policies, links to their full description in the Code of Policies and Regulations Applying to All Students. For the most current information, go to the website for the Code.

COURSE SYLLABI

Instructors are encouraged to make a course syllabus available to all students prior to the deadline for an undergraduate student to add a course. A syllabus should include the due dates of all major assignments, quizzes, examinations, and the instructor's attendance policy. The student is obligated to inform his or her instructor of any conflict at least one week following the distribution of the syllabus or by a later deadline specified by the instructor. (See http://www.uiuc.edu/admin manual/code/rule 34.html, Section 34A.2)

Undergraduate students should be provided with a statement of grading policies for the course, e.g., how the final grade for the course will be determined. This statement must also include information on whether the plus/minus grading system will be used.

SCHEDULING CLASSES

Classes and instructional laboratories are to be scheduled to begin on the hour or the half hour, and must end at least ten minutes before the hour. For example, a one hour class scheduled at 10:00 a.m. will actually meet from 10:00 a.m. to 10:50 a.m., and a class scheduled from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. will actually meet from 1:30 p.m. to 2:50 p.m. Both the beginning and ending time should be included in the Timetable for those classes meeting longer than one hour.

ACCOMMODATION OF STUDENTS' RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND PARTICIPATION IN SCHEDULED ACTIVITIES OF OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZED GROUPS

University policy and state law require that all instructors reasonably accommodate conflicts with class attendance and work requirements resulting from a student's religious beliefs, observances, and practices. Instructors must reasonably accommodate students whose class absence resulted from formal participation in scheduled activities of officially recognized groups such as athletic teams and performing groups. Policy governing class attendance of student athletes, as adopted by the Senate, is found in the Campus Code. Instructors shall hold all students who miss class for religious or University sponsored activities to the same standard. Accommodating absences for some groups but not others amounts to invidious discrimination and is against University policy.

For more information on class attendance, see http://www.uiuc.edu/admin manual/code/rule 34.html

SCHEDULING EXAMINATIONS

Evening, Midterm, and Hourly Examinations

The following regulations will be adhered to regarding examinations given at times other than during regular class periods. These policies do not apply to final examinations.

Please note that in applying these regulations, the University must reasonably accommodate a student's religious beliefs, observances, and practices in regard to the scheduling of evening, midterm, and hourly examinations if the student informs his or her instructor of the conflict within one week after being informed of the examination schedule.

• Evening Examinations. The scheduling of an evening examination requires the approval of the departmental executive officer unless the course meets regularly on the hour and day the examination is scheduled.
• Any examination, except a final, given at other than the regular class hour and when the University is in session, will be scheduled between 7:00 and 10:00 p.m., on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. An examination may also be given on Friday evening or on Saturday morning when, in the opinion of the dean, exceptional circumstances appear to warrant it.
• Students are to be excused from one or more regular class periods for an amount of time equivalent to that required for the evening examination.

For more information on scheduling evening, midterm and hourly examinations, see http://www.uiuc.edu/admin manual/code/rule 83.html

Final Examinations

On occasion, there may be a valid reason for scheduling a class final examination at a time other than that at which it is officially scheduled. However, all requests to alter examination dates are subject to review by the Office of the Provost.

In particular, you should be aware of the following regulations that apply to scheduling final examinations:

• No class final examination may be given outside its regularly scheduled time slot without the approval of the Office of the Provost.
• No final examination is to be given on Reading Day.
• No final examination should be given during a "regular" class period unless this is deemed necessary by virtue of the course or the examination (e.g., a laboratory "practical" examination as one part of a final examination).
• Approval to reschedule a final examination will not be given by the Provost unless the instructor (a) has polled the class to determine that an alternate date is desired by the class members, (b) has agreed to offer the final at the regularly scheduled time for those who do not choose to take it at the alternate time, (c) has contacted the Office of Facility Scheduling and Management (333 1231) and has been assured that space is available in which to give the examination at an alternate time, and (d) has first received approval of the department head or chairperson, the director of the school (when appropriate), and the dean of the college.

It should also be remembered that if faculty members elect to assign take home final examinations to their students, those examinations fall under these same guidelines. All take home examinations are due on the date of the regularly scheduled examination. Requests to alter these due dates must be forwarded to the Office of the Provost for review.

For more information on scheduling final examinations, including the rules applying to scheduling conflict exams, see http://www.uiuc.edu/admin manual/code/rule 82.html.

OFFICE HOURS

Each semester faculty members should announce their office hours in class and post them either outside their offices or in a location in the departmental office that is accessible to students. It is understood that faculty members will make special appointments for students who are not able to visit them during their regularly scheduled office hours.

GRADES, GRADING SYSTEM, AND REPORTING GRADES

In October 1998, the UIUC Senate approved a resolution on the plus/minus grading system. That resolution states that "all faculty are REQUIRED to announce, preferably in the syllabus, to their classes at the beginning of the semester (before the add date) whether or not they will employ the plus/minus grading system." A special provision of the resolution applies to multi section courses: "Multi section courses, which are coordinated and monitored by a single professor or group of professors, must be consistently graded: i.e., all sections must use the same grading system (plus/minus or no plus/minus). Consistent and uniform grading policies should exist in all sections."

Reports of mid-semester grades are required upon the work of all freshmen; mid-semester grade rosters will be mailed to instructors of freshman students early in the semester.

All instructors are reminded that the posting of student grades by personally identifiable means (e.g., using social security numbers) is a violation of federal law and thus prohibited.

For more information on reporting grades see http://registrar.illinois.edu/staff/records/grades.html.

Further details on most of these policies can be found in the Code of Policies and Regulations Applying to All Students (http://www.uiuc.edu/admin manual/code/index.html). For policies not covered in the Code, contact the Office of the Provost.