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MARSHALL UNIVERSITY
Faculty Senate to probe grade change
Old Main at Marshall University
HUNTINGTON — The executive committee of Marshall University’s Faculty Senate voted Monday to investigate the circumstances related to grades awarded a student for independent studies courses earlier this year.
The student involved was not named in the petition seeking the investigation, but the petition was delivered to the Faculty Senate office on Monday morning by Laura Wyant, a professor of adult and technical education. Wyant has been identified as the original instructor of two independent studies courses in which a daughter of State Treasurer John Perdue was enrolled last spring.
The petition was signed by 42 full-time faculty members, Faculty Senate Chairwoman Camilla Brammer said.
Wyant collected the signatures during the past week, Wyant said.
“The main thing I want out of the investigation is a change in policy so another faculty member doesn’t have to go through this again,” Wyant said.
The petition did specify that the student was awarded grades for independent studies courses taken in the College of Education and Human Services during the spring, summer and fall semesters of 2009.
Perdue’s daughter took two courses from Wyant during the spring 2009 semester. The student received incompletes from Wyant, but Provost Gayle Ormiston said the student completed the coursework over the summer under College of Education and Human Services Dean Rosalyn Templeton.
Ormiston said Wyant later mistakenly received two grade-change request forms for the student that should have gone to Templeton after the dean became the student’s instructor. Ormiston blamed a clerical error for the mix-up.
Wyant requested in late September that the Faculty Senate investigate the matter after learning that the student’s grades had been changed to As. She also argued that she never saw any of the student’s coursework and that she did not agree to any arrangement by which Templeton would become the instructor of record.
Bill Bissett, Marshall’s chief of staff, has since said the university’s internal review found there to be no inappropriate action, and the matter is considered closed.
He said Monday that the university will assist the Faculty Senate in its investigation and is “confident that the university acted appropriately in this matter.”
John Perdue said his daughter completed the coursework and earned the grades.
Brammer said there is no timeline on the investigation, but the executive committee intends to address it as quickly as possible. The Faculty Senate’s next meeting is Thursday, Nov. 19.
The executive committee consists of the following full-time faculty members: Brammer (chairwoman), Maurice Lockridge (assistant chair), Jennifer Sias (secretary), Janet Dozier, Jonathon Cox, Sandra Prunty, Huong Nguyen, Elaine Hardman, Burnis Morris, Wael Zatar, Eldon Larsen (ex-officio voting member) and Chuck Bailey (ex-officio voting member).
