Dear Instructor,
I am writing to share important information regarding Policy 6-100: Instruction and Evaluation. Updates to this policy took effect on August 1, 2026.
Policy 6-100 is one of the University’s foundational academic policies, governing core aspects of instruction, grading, course delivery, and student academic standards. Over the past two years, the policy underwent a comprehensive review and revision process involving faculty, staff, administrators, and students. This included a cross-campus working group, extensive stakeholder consultation, town halls, and Academic Senate engagement.
The newly revised policy is designed to:
- Improve clarity, transparency, and consistency for both students and instructors
- Align policy with current institutional practices and external requirements
- Strengthen academic processes related to grading, attendance, and course delivery
- Support student success through clearer expectations and more consistent application across all courses
Importantly, these updates do not change academic freedom or faculty authority over course content but instead provide a clearer and more consistent framework for instructional practices. I encourage all faculty members to read through the full Revised Policy PDF in addition to the key updates highlighted below. You can also find more information and resources on Navigate U’s Policy 6-100 webpage.
Key Updates for Instructors:
Section III.C.1 Minimum Enrollment Thresholds and corresponding new Rule R6-100F
Establishes a department chair’s responsibility to cancel a course with fewer enrolled students than the minimum suggested enrollment threshold, unless the department chair determines an exception for the course. Rule R6-100F establishes recommended enrollment thresholds (lower division undergraduate course (1000-2000 level) is 20 students; upper division undergraduate course (3000-4000 level) is 15 students) and the process for canceling a course.
Section III.D Credit Bearing Courses
Establishes that a Course-Offering unit should ensure an educational trainee or other graduate student who is the instructor of record for a course section should complete training or a course on teaching in higher education if the instructor does not have prior experience in higher education.
Section III.F Attendance Expectations
Clarifies absences that instructors are required to excuse and absences that instructors have the discretion to determine whether to excuse. Provides resources for students who need assistance working with an instructor to excuse an absence. Please review G6-100: Accommodating Absences for Explicitly Listed and Other Compelling Reasons for additional guidance related to absences.
Section III.H.1 Final Examinations
Clarifies that instructors may determine the format of assessments given during the final exam periods and must administer final assessments at the time and location assigned by the Office of the Registrar. If an instructor chooses not to administer a final assessment during the final exam period, they must notify the Office of the Registrar to allow for rescheduling of the classroom.
Section III.I.1.c Instructor and Course-Offering Unit Responsibilities Related to Grading and Instruction
Establishes the grading responsibilities for instructors and requires instructors to take reasonable steps to ensure consistent grading across graders.
Section III.K.2 Transcript Notations for Grades Based on Academic Performance
Changes the date by which a student must select CR/NC to the deadline to withdraw from a course section.
CR/NC is reserved for when students elect to take a standard letter grade course for credit or no credit. The instructor will input the letter grade earned and the system will convert the grade to either a CR or an NC based on the grade submitted.
Section III.K.3 Transcript Notations for Grades Based on Academic Performance
Creates the binary grading scale of Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) to denote grades in courses where all students are graded on a binary scale for pedagogical reasons (as opposed to a student electing CR/NC). This will apply to all courses that generate one credit hour or less (unless a proposal is submitted via CourseDog by curriculum committee to have the course be standard letter grade). Variable credit courses that generate one credit or less (e.g. variable credit course that is 0.5-1) will be automatically converted to S/U grading basis. Variable credit courses that generate more than one credit will not be converted to S/U unless a request is submitted to have it be on the S/U grading basis. For any course on the S/U grading basis, the instructor will only be able to select S or U at the time of grading.
Section III.M.1 Temporary Grades
Reduces the time to resolve an Incomplete (I) grade from one year to 90 days, with flexibility for extensions in exceptional circumstances.
Section III.M.3 Temporary Grades
Creates the transcription notation of Not Reported (NR) to indicate that an instructor has not submitted a grade for a student who has attended or participated in a course section. This is to differentiate from an “Unofficial Withdraw” (EU), the transcription notation for a student who has not attended or participated in a course.
Section III.P.1 Withdrawing from Course Sections
Changes the withdrawal deadline to 75 percent of the way through the instructional period to ensure that students have more information to determine whether to withdraw.
Section Y Accommodations in Courses for Students’ Religious and Conscience Beliefs and corresponding Rule R6-100B
Incorporated into Rule R6-100B and revised to meet statutory obligations related to content accommodations for required examinations and assignments in required courses.
If you have questions about how these changes apply to your courses or instructional practices, please do not hesitate to contact the Martha Bradley Evans Center for Teaching Excellence.
T. Chase Hagood
Vice Provost for Student Success
Policy 6-100 Owner
