Students I’ed, then F’ed

Corey Benson

Dana Lizik

The Signal

International students make up nearly 11 percent of the UHCL student body.

Several international students were accused of violating the academic honesty policy last spring and were given a grade of “I” or “incomplete” as a sanction until the assignment could be resubmitted.

This decision, however, resulted in the students potentially being out of status, facing deportation and led UHCL administrators to reexamine a policy prohibiting international students from receiving an “I” instead of a grade.

The 2010-2011 UHCL Student Life Policy Handbook states on page 23, “In the event a case of academic dishonesty is not resolved prior to the deadline for reporting final grades to the registrar, the student shall receive a grade of Incomplete (‘I’) until the appropriate grade can be determined.”

A grade of “I” must be resolved before the next long semester in which it was assigned. The policy governing incompletes in the both the undergraduate and graduate catalogs states, “Failure to resolve the “I” will result in its conversation to a final grade of “F” on the students’ permanent records.”

For several international students, however, the issue was not resolved before the end of the term, which caused the students involved to receive an incomplete and fall into a gray area within both the Academic Honesty Policy as stated in Student Life Handbook and a conflicting Office of Admissions policy.

The contrasting international admissions policy, which appears on the “Maintaining Your F-1 Status” flyer found in the Office of Admissions, states, “You may NOT, under any circumstances, receive an ‘I’ or ‘WX’ grade. An ‘I’ or ‘WX’ is an unofficial withdrawal. This brings you below full-time enrollment and out of status.”

“This was the first time that international students were given the grade of an ‘I’ as an academic honesty policy sanction – it was not the final grade,” said David Rachita, interim dean of students. “The thought process was that the ‘I’ would serve as a place holder until the students could resolve the situation and be awarded a final grade.”

The Academic Honesty Policy states that an instructor may require the student to complete another assignment to receive credit.

“Our [academic honesty] policy, in general, allows the faculty member a lot of flexibility in working with the student,” said Darlene Biggers, associate vice president for student services.

Rachita believes the policy could have, in the past, been interpreted to permit instructors to assign a grade of incomplete to allow students adequate time to complete another assignment.

“In this case, the ‘I’ is a placeholder to allow the student an opportunity to pursue a formal or informal resolution to their academic honesty case per the student life policy handbook,” said Yvette Bendeck, associate vice president of enrollment management. “The final grade is assigned at the completion of the process, whether it goes to a formal hearing or resolved informally between the faculty and student. The ‘I’ is therefore acceptable.”

Bendeck does not, however, believe that international students may receive an incomplete en route to the resolution of an academic honesty policy violation.

“Based on my interpretation of the Student Life Handbook policy, an ‘I’ is not listed as a faculty or Academic Honesty Council sanction,” Bendeck said. “However, if this happens, it must be brought to the immediate attention of our international student advisors. This is important because having an ‘I’ as a grade without an acceptable explanation may put students’ visa in jeopardy. An ‘I’ grade given by an instructor as result of sanction for violations of the academic honesty code does not meet the standard of making normal academic progress since it is not a result of extenuating circumstances beyond the control of a student.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security program uses the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, known as SEVIS to track and monitor schools and programs, students, exchange visitors and their dependents throughout the duration of approved participation within the U.S. education system.

UHCL and all other universities authorized to host international student visitors report the grades of international students to SEVIS to insure compliance with applicable federal laws.

“Different universities interpret the regulations differently when the regulations don’t address a point directly,” said Maria Zeller, SEVIS manager at the University of Colorado and member of NAFSA, the association of international educators. “The assigning of an incomplete could be considered a gray area and each university needs to consider and develop its own policy as to whether or not to allow incompletes for international students. The problem with an international student receiving an incomplete is that if at some point the course is not completed and the credit is never assigned, then the student could be considered retroactively out of status for having failed to maintain full-time enrollment and they could lose their status.”

Federal regulations allow international students to fall below full-time status if there are extenuating circumstances outside the control of the student that prevents the student from completing coursework.

“UHCL’s Incomplete Grade Policy, found in the graduate and undergraduate catalog on pages, 75 and 81, respectively does not conflict with immigration regulation,” Bendeck said.

The policy stated in the university catalog, however, is in contrast to the policy listed in the “Maintaining Your F-1 Status” flyer.

“International students should not be afraid to ask questions,” Rachita said. “They should find a university administrator they feel comfortable with for guidance and more information.”

Many international students seek the counsel of Intercultrual and International Student Services when faced with issues concerning their status and clarification on university policies.

“There is a perceived disconnect from what we say in student services and what the international advisors tell students,” said Linda Contreras Bullock, assistant dean of student diversity. “There is confusion about the policy and its implications for international students and the effects it could have on their status.”

University administrators agree that clarification is needed on what the policy means and how it is applied.

“I’m sure [faculty] do not know, because we didn’t even know,” Biggers said.

Rachita, who assumed the role of interim dean of students earlier this semester, agreed.

“Most faculty probably do not know the grade of ‘I’ can cause these problems for international students,” Rachita said. “There needs to be communication to educate faculty and international students.”

How the policy will be applied in the future is currently being reexamined by administrators by both UHCL administrators and University of Houston System Office of General Counsel.

“We will have to see what is acceptable and what are the best practices,” Biggers said. “Does the policy need to change or is there a way to work with it? We will have to talk to legal counsel to see what options we would have.”