2The university’s Student Government Association provided Tritons with updates on the proposed pass/fail grading system for Fañomnåkan 2020.

They held their 13th regular session this academic year online via Facebook Live on April 3.

Marc Allen Bituin, SGA president, reported that the UOG President’s council has discussed an online petition for an optional pass/fail grading system.

UOG student Christian Sazon began this online petition in response to the transition of classes from face-to-face to fully online. The petition proposes that students should be able to have the option of taking a pass/fail grade for their classes.

Sazon clarified that the purpose of this option would be to aid students through the pandemic, not to provide them with an easy way out. 

“You are not allowing for easy passes,” Sazon said. “Instead, you are recognizing that education is not the most important aspect right now.” 

UOG has since implemented this pass/fail option for this spring semester on April 17. Students can now choose to replace their letter grade with an alternative grade that will not affect their GPA. 

Alternative grades are Pass (P), Credit (CR) and No Credit (NC). 

Students have until June 1 to exercise this option.

Eduroam

Bituin also reported that the administration council is discussing ways of providing academic resources to their students to ease this transition, one of which is the expansion of the school’s Eduroam network. 

This would allow students to access the network using their GoTritons accounts in certain parts of the island.

Spring 2020 Commencement Ceremony

UOG is considering moving the event to the summer or in December, alongside Fall graduates. “They are for sure still accepting the graduates who are applying and they will still be distributing degrees,” Bituin said. 

There were no updates given regarding the reimbursement of tuition and fees.

Student events

SGA has postponed all remaining student events for the semester. This includes the Electric Blue Night, Tritons Out Loud and Spring Assembly. 

“Our council is figuring out ways to be able to give back to the students and try to see how we can support the university,” Bituin said.

SGA has also postponed the student regent election and 59th SGA election until further notice. A proposed plan is to hold onto the 58th term until next semester when students are able to vote for the elections in-campus. 

“Our constitution does specifically state for live voting, there isn’t really much into digital or absentee voting,” Bituin said.

GoTritons accounts

Sallie Sablan, EMSS senior academic counselor, urged students to access their GoTritons student emails to get important notifications. 

“Students should be able to use their GoTritons account in order to get notifications from your instructors or any advisors,” Sablan said.

What’s next

SGA will be holding future regular and special meetings through online livestreams and will be continuing to provide Tritons with updates from the administration council.