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THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2017 SERVING THE UNIVERSITY OF VOLUME 124 | ISSUE 2 ALABAMA SINCE 1894 CAMPUS 6 FASHION 7 VOLLEYBALL 10 Hunter signed away Former UA student takes Team hopes to make it to protection, OSC refuses passion to Vancouver NCAA tournament this year to comment Fashion Week UA pageant contestants talk service, friendship and inspiring women SEE PAGE 9 CW / Scarlet VanMeter THURSDAY 2 August 31, 2017 FIND US online cw.ua.edu facebook The Crimson White instagram thecrimsonwhite twitter @TheCrimsonWhite SCENE ON INSTA @mirandawisell @tylarborenstein @marissa_maguire @jamieee_fl ynn cw.ua.edu WHAT’S INSIDE P.O. Box 870170 414 Campus Drive East Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 Newsroom: (205) 348-6144 Fax: (205) 348-8036 NEWS: Grades Advertising: (205) 348-7845 Inconsistent plus/minus grading leaves students’ heads spinning EDITORIAL STAFF 3 Wikimedia Commons editor-in-chief Elizabeth Elkin [email protected] managing editor Sam West CULTURE: Homesickness digital editor Jake Stevens visuals editor Mary Kate Holladay Combating the most ubiquitous enemy of chief copy editor Alise Wenner 9 freshmen opinions editor Marissa Cornielius CW File [email protected] news editor Rebecca Rakowitz [email protected] SPORTS: Soccer culture editor Ellen Johnson [email protected] Women’s soccer is optimistic with 11 new sports editor Matthew Speakman [email protected] 12 players on the roster photo editor Caroline Japal CW File multimedia editor David Jones lead page designer Shana Oshinskie engagement editor Meg Magee social media editor Tyler Waldrep EVENTS THIS WEEK ADVERTISING STAFF Photo courtesy of @uacccis Photo courtesy of @mallorikay ad representatives Trent Wilson Lauren McDowell Lizzie Mizenko Jack Amthor Dylan Merriweather creative services Serenity Lamprakes Alexis Craft The Crimson Whit is the community newspaper of The University of Alabama. 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Editor | Rebecca Rakowitz [email protected] NEWS Thursday, August 31, 2017 3 Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Plus/minus grading doesn’t always benefi t students By Sonya Haines | Contributing Writer Amber Buck, an associate professor in the English for the semester. Because of this, I ended up with department. “I assumed that pluses and minuses a 3.9 instead of a 4.0 for the semester. It is very For students, grades can mean everything. were something that were given out in high school, frustrating because I made an ‘A’ but an ‘A-’ is not Whether it be for applying for jobs, or gaining not in college. I was completely unaware that they really an ‘A.’” admissions to graduate, medical or law school, affected students’ GPAs so drastically.” Some students have managed to navigate the grades bear a heavy weight, and for students plus/minus system effectively, being able to at The University of Alabama, managing their maintain a 4.0. However, even those students find GPA can be a more complex experience than at themselves nervous about how the grading system other schools. I don’t think all professors will affect them long term as they seek job offers The University of Alabama employs a plus and and admissions to post-undergraduate education. minus system in grading, which makes the GPA understand the difference Mollee Cohee, a junior majoring in biology, who scale different from any other college in the is preparing to apply for medical school, finds the state of Alabama. According to the University an ‘A+’ or an ‘A’ makes in plus/minus system putting her at a disadvantage. of Alabama’s website, “grade point averages are “If I make an ‘A+’ it does not matter, but if I computed on the following grades: ‘A,’ ‘B,’ ‘C,’ ‘D,’ make an ‘A-’ it hurts me,” she said. ‘F,’ or ‘I’ and any pluses or minuses that appear on students GPAs. Moving forward, students at the University ask the record.” to see more consistency in the grading system. The way that the policy reads, pluses and minuses They ask for a system where their GPAs reflect are optional but they also change students’ GPAs. their performance, instead of a grading scale that “Instructors are not required to use any - Cathy Elliott changes as often as they change classes. particular grading scale,” said Denny Savage, senior associate university registrar. Since the University does not have an official PLUS / MINUS SYSTEM policy on pluses and minuses, students face classes For students, the fact that the professors are where their teacher’s grading is inconsistent. It unaware of how each grade sways their overall is entirely up to each individual teacher whether GPA they often find themselves feeling stuck when they employ the plus/minus system and how they it comes to achieving a competitive GPA. choose to employ it. “I think we are at a disadvantage,” Harrison A+ 4.33 C 2.0 “I had one teacher who refused to honor the said. “With the teachers, I do not think it should plus/minus system,” said Patrick Harrison, a be optional, it should either be a part of the system senior majoring in civil engineering. “He simply or not.” A 4.0 C- 1.67 gave a straight ‘A’ without a plus or minus.” Anna Michaels, a junior majoring in political While the correlating GPA to an ‘A’ is a 4.0, the science and English had a professor who honored difference between an ‘A+’ and an ‘A-,’ according the minus system but not the plus system. to the University’s website, is a 4.33 and a 3.67 GPA. “In my English 310 class, I ended the semester A- 3.67 D+ 1.33 “I don’t think all professors understand the with a 98, which on most scales is an ‘A+’ but difference that an ‘A+’ or an ‘A-’ makes in students’ because the professor did not honor the plus system GPAs,” said Cathy Elliott, an academic advisor for my grade was put in as an ‘A,’” Michaels said. “It B+ 3.33 D 1.0 the College of Arts and Sciences. “I have had many was frustrating because I could have really used students explain to their teachers that an ‘A+’ can that pick me up in my GPA to counteract an ‘A-’ I help them raise their GPA from classes that may made in another class, but unfortunately I did not have brought their GPA down.” get it.” B 3.0 D- 0.67 Teachers do not receive any recommendations Other students face the frustration that comes from the University on how they should grade when they make ‘A’s in their classes but because their classes or on the difference in GPAs. Some of the difference in GPA they have to deal with the teachers do not realize that a plus or minus is an fact that all ‘A’s are not created equally. B- 2.67 F 0 option when assigning grades. “My second semester of my freshman year I “I am fairly new here, but through my orientation took a chemistry class where the teachers honored to the University, the department or in any of the the plus/minus system,” said Matt Delahay, a C+ 2.33 Incomplete materials they gave me when I was hired nothing junior majoring in chemistry. “I made a 92 in my about the grading scale was mentioned,” said chemistry class and as a result received an ‘A-’ Editor | Marissa Cornielius [email protected] 4 Thursday, August 31, 2017 OPINIONS TWITTERTWIT- REACTIONSTER Waste of time or way to get ahead? Tweet us your opinions about Alabama’s +/- system of grading! Ta$ha Coryell @tashaaaaaaa @TheCrimsonWhite It’s hard when students Tribune News Service try to debate the COLUMN | THE MACHINE difference between an A and an A+.

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