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Birmingham-Southern College Catalog 2017-2018
ACADEMIC POLICY AND INFORMATION
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Academic Fresh Start
Students who have been absent from college for a period of five or more years may, upon
admission or readmission, choose to have all prior grades and credits removed from
computation of their total credits and their grade point average. This grade waiver option
must be requested upon admission or readmission, and it may be exercised only one time.
All requests for waiver of grades exercised under the option described above are
supervised by the Provost’s Office, which reserves the right to request appropriate
academic information and to interview candidates for admission or readmission to help
ascertain their ability and determination to succeed in their academic work.
Courses Repeated and Redeemed
Any course repeated is undertaken with the understanding that the second grade earned
will take precedence over the original grade earned. All work attempted and all grades
earned will be shown on the student’s transcript. A student who has passed a course with
a grade of “C” or higher may only repeat the course on an audit basis. Courses may not
be redeemed by contract. A student who has earned a grade of “C-” or below in a course
may redeem the course under the following conditions:
(1) A course may be redeemed only by repeating the same course at Birmingham-
Southern College.
(2) No credit will be granted for the first time the course was taken, and the first course
will be listed on the student’s transcript as “redeemed.” The grade from the first course
will appear on the transcript but will not be used to compute the student’s grade point
average.
(3) A student may redeem a course a second time, but in such a case both the second and
third grade will be used to compute the student’s grade point average.
(4) A student receiving a grade of “C-” or below in a first-year explorations in
scholarship seminar may redeem the unit from the regular curriculum. The course chosen
to redeem the unit must be approved by the faculty member whose course is being
redeemed, the student’s advisor, and the chair of the department of the faculty member
whose course is being redeemed. In the case of redemption, no credit will be granted for
the original course. It will remain listed on the transcript as “redeemed.” If redeemed, the
grade for the original course will appear on the transcript but will not be used to compute
the student’s grade point average. The first-year explorations in scholarship seminar
requirement will be satisfied by virtue of enrollment regardless of the grade earned.
Grade Appeal Policy
Birmingham-Southern College supports the academic freedom of faculty members in
assigning students a final grade. If a student believes an error has been made in the