Joseph Patten, Professor, Political Science
Robert H. Scott, III, Professor, Economics, Finance & Real Estate
We support the SGA’s resolution (S25-01) that requires faculty to post syllabi and grades on a learning management system (i.e., eCampus). SGA’s proposal would improve grading transparency in ways that benefit both students and faculty. Studies show that students enrolled in classes that lack grading transparency experience higher levels of anxiety which disrupts the learning experience. Grading transparency through eCampus also helps faculty detail dates and times of student submissions which eliminates disputes about late or missing assignments. It also reduces the likelihood of faculty computational errors when submitting final grades and provides a grading history in the event faculty members are unable to complete the semester due to sudden illness or worse.
The initiative to require faculty to upload grades on eCampus is currently being blocked by the Executive Committee of MU’s faculty union, better known as FAMCO. It is particularly disappointing that FAMCO’s e-board is turning its back on the SGA now since the SGA has generally supported FAMCO initiatives over the years. FAMCO’s stated reason for opposing grading transparency is to protect the faculty member’s “primary role to decide the best method to evaluate students.” This argument is non-sensical because the SGA initiative does not in any way impact the method by which faculty evaluate student work—it only requires faculty to be transparent about their grading process.
In addition, the Information Technology Committee is comprised of eight faculty members who helped select our learning management system. If this faculty committee recommended eCampus for Monmouth and the university pays for it, then not using it is wasteful. We asked Information Management for some data on system use and learned that last semester 86% (519 of 603) of instructors used eCampus in at least one of their courses to post materials, grades, and/or assignments. So, if most faculty members are already using eCampus, why is the FAMCO e-board opposing the SGA’s proposal? Are some FAMCO members too busy screaming into bullhorns over some ginned-up cause to upload their grades on eCampus?
We both served on the FAMCO negotiating team in 2021 and believe strongly in promoting strong working conditions for faculty in ways that benefit students. But FAMCO is on the wrong side of this issue. Our view is that instead of delaying this proposal for years, FAMCO should support student rights and grading transparency now. Most faculty unions understand the important distinction between cooperating with student leaders versus capitulating to a bloated administrative leisure class. We proudly stand with the SGA President Tanner Purdy and all members of the SGA and congratulate them on collecting over 1,000 faculty and student signatures on their petition in support of their proposal. We urge all faculty members who support student rights and grading transparency to join us in signing their petition and to support our students as they lead our campus on this important cause: https://linktr.ee/monmouthSGA1.
