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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Atlanta, GA | Posted: March 5, 2012
A vote on whether or not to add a sentence to the Office of the Registrar’s Procedures for Excused Absences stating that “excused absences will not be approved for the final examination period” was postponed during the Feb. 21 meeting of the General Faculty and Academic Senate.
During the meeting, Craig Tovey, chair of the Student Academic and Financial Affairs Committee, which was proposing the change, explained that although the Institute would no longer be able to grant the absences, individual faculty members would be.
The group agreed that the committee should reword the sentence to allow the Institute more flexibility when a decision needs to be made.
Separately, a decision to revise Georgia Tech’s Policy on Competitive Admissions to ensure that it is in line with current legal standards regarding discrimination, diversity and admissions was approved.
Some of the changes in the revised version include deleting a sentence stating that admission preference may be given to nonresident applicants who are legacies of the Institute and deleting a sentence that states those offered admission will be selected on the basis of “recognition of the Institute’s special responsibilities to the residents of Georgia.”
The audience did provide one stipulation to its approval; a sentence in the new policy needed to be modified. The group was uncomfortable with saying that the admissions process should be structured to require students to “provide substantial evidence” of their potential to “embrace the diverse campus community,” among other things. So, the sentence will be modified accordingly by Tovey’s committee.
In other meeting news:
To view open faculty governance positions, the agenda for this meeting and the supporting documents that were provided for each meeting item, click here.
