During Wednesday’s Board of Directors meeting held on Zoom, Associated Students President Branden Parent reported on a resolution which passed on March 23 and will provide more flexibility and support for San Jose State students.
Academic Senate Chair Ravisha Mathur said during Monday’s Academic Senate meeting that it is the first student resolution passed in the senate within the last 10 years.
Director of Academic Affairs Anoop Kaur and Parent presented this Sense of the Senate resolution, urging faculty members to be more lenient to students during the coronavirus pandemic.
“So it’s something really big,” Parent said. “We hope that [A.S.] can share that with students and faculty to show that the Academic Senate got the support unanimously.”
Fees and refunds
Parent said the Campus Fee Advisory Committee will discuss how departments have used their funding in an upcoming meeting.
The committee also stated that partial refunds for student services such as housing, meal plans and parking will be given while tuition and mandatory fees will not be refunded at all.
“Yes, we are giving parking refunds back,” Parent said. “But you have to understand there are still people using the parking spaces to get to campus like essential staff.”
Despite SJSU closing facilities, staff are still maintaining and cleaning the campus, Parent said.
“I understand the concerns the students have about some of the mandatory fees like the SRAC,” Parent said. “The reasoning is that there is still maintenance with taking care of the pool and security.”
Parent added that these fees also pay for future expenses that could not be disclosed for confidentiality reasons.
“If you were to ask a graduate student from ten years ago if they paid for the SRAC they would have to say ‘yes,’ because 15 years ago, students have been paying for the SRAC every single year and some of them don’t even know it is around,” Parent said.
He also said refunding mandatory fees would have an adverse effect on student and employee paychecks.
COVID-19 at SJSU
Parent said the identity of the SJSU student that tested positive for COVID-19 will not be disclosed because of privacy concerns.
If you did not receive an email from Vice President of Student Affairs Patrick Day about possible contact, you should not be concerned about contracting the virus from that student, Parent added.
Credit/No Credit class option
Parent said that he planned to meet with Kaur and Vincent Del Casino Jr., provost and senior vice president of Academic Affairs, to discuss the possibility of a credit or no-credit option for students on campus.
Parent said that there are no pass/fail classes at SJSU because it is not a viable option for students, regardless of their academic status.
“Those students, because credit/no credit does not lower or raise their GPA,” he said. “If they take that and they are currently in academic probation, they will not get out . . . So if we tell them that it won’t lower their grade, they might choose it and end up screwing themselves over.”
The credit or no-credit system would also have an effect on graduate students seeking teaching credentials, because they require letter grades to earn their credentials. Parent also said the system would affect veteran students and students who receive financial aid unless Cindy Kato, the director of academic advising and retention services, changes the AARS guidelines.
State of athletics
Parent also said the Mountain West Conference has closed and that the SJSU Athletics Board has canceled all spring contests until after spring break.
Student-athletes are currently concerned with their GPAs, Parent said. He added that some said the transition to online classes may have an adverse effect on their academic performances.
