Instructors are obligated to evaluate each student's work fairly and without bias and to assign grades based on valid academic criteria. (See the University Operations Manual on professional ethics and academic responsibility, part 2(e), and the University policy on human rights.)

It is especially important that grading be consistent across sections of multi-section courses. Likewise, fairness to students implies reasonably consistent grading among courses of the same level within one department.

In every course, the grading criteria used must be clearly described in the course syllabus.

The following grading system is used in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Students from other colleges taking courses administratively housed in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are subject to CLAS policies. CLAS students taking courses offered by other colleges of the University are subject to the grading policies of the administrative home of the course.

Option of Plus/Minus Grading
Departments and individual instructors have the option of using the plus and minus grades in the scale given above or of using only the full letter grades for A, B, C, and D. Under either option, instructors may use any or all of the points on the grading scale. However, once an option is chosen, it must be applied to all students in a given class and in all sections of a multi-section course. Instructors must announce at the first class meeting which grading option will be used; this information must also be included in the class syllabus (see Required Syllabus).