Virginia Tech Offers Grading Flexibility To Reduce Pressure

The Virginia Tech marching band prepares to serenade classmates at Montgomery Regional Hospital in Blacksburg. (Photos By Steve Helber -- Associated Press)

BLACKSBURG, Va., April 19 -- When you've just faced life-and-death tests, the stress of term papers and final exams can seem like too much.

So Virginia Tech said yesterday that students too disturbed to finish their course work because of this week's massacre won't have to. Those students will qualify for credit with the grades they had earned before the killer struck.

In uncharted territory after the nation's deadliest shooting rampage by an individual, school officials said they are trying to ease students back into an academic routine with flexibility and compassion. Classes will resume Monday, two weeks before finals.

"I think this reflects the realization that we're in a place we've never been before, and it's so radically different that we can't even begin to think about business as usual," said Terry Wildman, director of the university's Center for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. "I think the mind-set is: What can we salvage in these last two weeks in terms of making this the best possible experience, considering the circumstances?"

The liberal grading policy landed without much noise; Blacksburg is numb, a place where even touch-football games are quiet this week.

The students were given several options: They can elect to count only work completed as of Monday; they can count work until the attacks plus any other assignments they choose to complete; or they can count work from the entire semester.

Officials emphasized that there will be no hard-and-fast rules. Students can switch to a pass/fail grade, change their mind about having an exam graded after taking it, even stay home for the rest of the year.

"We have decided among ourselves that we are going to focus on the students first," Mark G. McNamee, provost and vice president for academic affairs, said at a news conference. "And so the students are going to have choices about how they will complete the semester."

Brian Wheeler, an aerospace engineering student from Austin, said he was heartened by what he saw as a nurturing gesture -- but a potentially complex one as well.

"The fear I personally have is that no one wants to be taking advantage of this, none of us want to feel like we sort of got something good out of this," Wheeler, 22, said after leaving his department's lab in his flip-flops despite chilly late-afternoon weather.

He said he doubted that anyone would abuse the offer, adding that he had just seen colleagues working in the lab on a regular project. "It's kind of a beautiful thing," he said. Then he added: "But no one is judging each other here."

Most of his professors had e-mailed just to connect with students -- and offer their home and cellphone numbers, he said. They canceled most remaining assignments so classes can focus on covering the rest of the syllabus. Some students will find it hard to return to class at all, he said, regardless of the new policy.