Really? "You should shop at Pathmark." Are you now mandated to shop there?
Joe P.
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Really? "You should shop at Pathmark." Are you now mandated to shop there?
Joe P.
Rutgers has tens of thousands of students, hundreds of classes on multiple campuses, but you know it all. That's amazing.
(BTW, I have no clue how rare or common they are).
Joe P.
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flood admitted early that he has had contact with professors before, making it sound routine..... I think we MIGHT assume that there have been other emails out there, sprinkled about, over the last four years or so
This investigation will not be just looking at one email, it will be looking for like emails, possibly any that might be more questionable
Despite this, I don't think Flood was trying to get away with anything illegal, RU has been very active in all ways to better players academic scores... This would be a continuation of that caring effort, which is now the problem
As someone who has worked closely on compliance issues for a long time... When a person who is very high up the food chain asks if you can do something there is the implication that you should do something and that is pressure. If the CEO at your company say, you know you don't have to work overtime, but this project is pretty important to us. You will feel pressure, even though it isn't mandated.
The influence of Flood on an associate prof is much less clear, but he's still a highly influential person on campus asking a part-timer what might be done to improve grades. I really doubt he meant it as pressure, but it isn't surprising that someone might feel it as pressure. This is exactly why the policies exists. Imagine Flood having the same conversation about his starting QB's grades just before the Rose Bowl.
All that said, these are the most common sort of compliance issue I see and it pretty much always results in a conversation saying, 'Please don't do that.'
Yep ! I do, let's do a poll. Were you an RU student ? What percentage of your grades had the T designation. The answer is less than 3 or 4 percent among regular students. If Flood says this is USUAL, he is very misinformed.
Ok...but I'm sure Flood wasn't talking about the tens of thousands of RU "regular students" as he generally has contact with only football student-athletes so his comment about T grades and eventually higher final grades were from his experience with his own football players.
So T grades are uncommon for the majority of students but very common place for football players, which allows them to get their grades changed all the time...I really hope that's not what Flood meant.
Upon reflection, I'm now going to defend Flood somewhat. The objective of T grades are NOT to do extra work to improve your grades as Flood said. He is completely wrong about that. The reason for T grades is if a student misses a final exam or final paper or project because of a previously notified absence (family emergencies, three finals scheduled for same day, etc.). It is possible that if bowl game travel prevented the team from taking their final exams and the professors were notified, the entire team or most of them would get T grades for that one semester.
I hear you MC; I was originally mentioning the point in the policy where it says "should not". I don't have your expertise on workplace compliance issues but I remember a workplace situation (much different than Flood's) where a policy "strongly reccommended" something and some interpreted it as mandatory while others thought it was still a 'choice'. Due to what the policy addressed, it definitely was a gray area that ended up being a 'case by case' basis.
Joe P.
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Agree...but would it have to be one or the other (i.e. T grades and grade improvements are "regularly done for the wide student-body" and/or "regularly done for his football players") but as a past/current prof/instructor noted, T grades overall are very rare.(maybe in their course/college).
Since grades are private, don't there would be an official number/percentage of T grades/grade improvements for student body as a whole and/or for student-athletes.
But that could be how its worked for his football players...hence why he stated what he did.
Here's his quote.
"This practice is not unusual at Rutgers. Many students all over campus receive what are called T grades, doing work outside when the class ends that semester to earn a better grade."
He never said that HE has done it more than once. You think he said this is common practice for HIM, but that's not what he said.
I have only heard of one successful T grade appeal, ever, and that was because some poor student was in a car accident and in pain for months.
Not the part of the quote I was referring to.
"Our faculty are part of our program," Flood said. "Just as recently as the other day, we had two faculty members at our practice. Now, any correspondence that I had with a professor in regard to a student-athlete would really be of this nature: One, to be in support of whatever decision that faculty member made, and two, to inquire as to whether or not there would be an opportunity to earn a better grade. Now, this practice is not unusual at Rutgers. Many students all over campus receive what are called 'T grades' (temporary grades) doing work outside of when the class ends that semester to earn a better grade."
Is it possible that the only time Flood ever emailed with a professor is this Barnwell issue? Sure, I suppose so because there's not direct evidence in his quotes to the contrary. But back in grade school, I remember learning about context clues, and the context clues here sure sound like communication with professors is commonplace.
Look, I hope you're right. I'll be super happy if you are. Either way, I do not believe this is a big deal -- a minor infraction at worst. But, I just happen to think Flood may have extended the length of this investigation by his statement on Tuesday.
He is wrong and misinformed. I doubt he is intentionally stating incorrectly information, but if he doesn't actually know, he hould not have said anything.
You stated:
"Right, but Flood's statement yesterday indicated that it was commonplace to a) support a professors decision or b) inquire as to whether there is anything an individual student athlete can do to improve his grade (paraphrasing). Part b) seems problematic. "
Read the post again....then read Flood's quote. Flood never said he does it, but that "many students all over campus" do it. He did not say football players or student-athletes....he said students all over campus.
But you forgot to include the quote where Flood admitted to using two different ways to contact profs in the past:
Now, any correspondence that I had with a professor in regard to a student-athlete would really be of this nature: One, to be in support of whatever decision that faculty member made, and two, to inquire as to whether or not there would be an opportunity to earn a better grade. Now, this practice is not unusual at Rutgers. Many students all over campus receive what are called 'T grades' (temporary grades) doing work outside of when the class ends that semester to earn a better grade."
Also, Flood admitted to having past personal conversations in person with RU Profs/Instructors (example used was at practice).
NOTE: How would he know how many "students all over campus" receive T grades for a chance to earn a better final grade?
I think we should probably just agree to disagree. I'm forming my opinion based on context. You're not. Again, I hope you're right. Either way, I like Flood and don't think this is a big deal.
it is a bit different when that person is your boss. And your example adds something that does not sound like part of Flood's ask.."you know we really could use Nadir on the team"
but I completely get your point about taking the high road to avoid a super sensitive-PC -legally run world . I work for a huge company and take compliance training often myself. Common sense is not so common these days.
I disagree with you. I have direct knowledge that a T grade for Rutgers undergrads is not "unusual."
And 3 or 4% is certainly not "unusual." If each student gets 4 grades per semester, and there are 20,000 students, that would be 2,400 T grades per semester (3%). I guess we have different definitions of "unusual."
See, I read it as "this practice of inquiring about a "T" grade" is not unusual for any regular student at Rutgers. He never says that he contacts professors to inquire about it. He never says that student-athletes do it all of time. I don't see it as an admission of guilt on his part at all.
As to how would he know? I dunno. He's been there awhile. I'm sure some football players have tried/been granted a "T" grade. Maybe he, or other coaches, were told by academic support/tutors that it is an option for any student to try and raise their grade.
That's fine. Agree to disagree. But, I might add that you did twist Flood's words in your post by saying that it was "commonplace..for a student-athlete" to inquire when he never said that.
Definitely don't want Flood fired. Ha. Been a huge supporter of him every year.
Just passing along info is all. No problem if u don't want to read it.