Davis Professor Polled Students For Pregnant Woman's Grade (update)

[The Straight Story]

UC Davis officials probe professor, grading email


DAVIS, CA - A UC-Davis veterinary professor is under investigation in connection with an email about grading students.

Dr. Edward Feldman, who chairs the Medicine and Epidemiology Department at the School of Veterinary Medicine, is accused of telling student leaders to email members of the third-year class about a female student who was pregnant.

A student claimed the correspondence said, "One of our classmates recently gave birth and will be out of class for an unknown period of time. This means she will undoubtedly miss one, or more, or all quizzes in VMD 444. Dr. Feldman is not sure how to handle this and has requested the class give input and vote. He has provided us with six options on which to vote and is open to any other ideas you may have."

The query prompted questions for Linda Jordan, who was taking her dog to the small animal clinic for treatment.

"Why would he have to ask the entire class?" Jordan said. "Why would a student's grade be at the whim of other students?"

http://www.news10.net/news/story.aspx?storyid=117660&catid=2

Here is the letter:

Dear Colleagues,

One of our classmates recently gave birth and will be out of class for an unknown period of time...Below are listed the options that Dr. Feldman has suggested. Please reserve comment on these options and provide us your opinion on them by voting when the time comes. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

a) automatic A final grade
b) automatic B final grade
c) automatic C final grade
d) graded the same as everyone else: best 6 quiz scores out of a possible 7 quiz scores (each quiz only given only once in class with no repeats)
e) just take a % of quiz scores (for example: your classmate takes 4 quizzes, averages 9/10 points = 90% = A)
f) give that student a single final exam at the end of the quarter (however this option is only available to this one student, all others are graded on the best 6 quiz scores and the % that results)

Please let us know if you have other thoughts on how to handle this situation and please keep your eye out for the upcoming vote.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Your Presidents

[NV Whino]

1. If he can't figure out a solution to this on his own

he shouldn't be teaching. And, just for the record, I don't think any of those options are viable. He should give two make-up exams. And she should have arranged this in advance.

[blondeatlast]

2. Fire his sorry, incompetent ass. nt

[MH1]

3. I don't see where it says he mentioned her name

so it could have been a hypothetical question.

If it was a class in education or ethics or philosophy or something I can even see where it might be ok, if it was couched as a hypothetical, even if a real event had made him think of it.

But in this guy's role I really wonder why he thought this would be a good idea. Maybe he was concerned that if she was allowed to pass the class, then other students would feel he'd treated the situation unfairly?

[cynatnite]

5. You don't think the pregnant girl was obvious enough? n/t

[petronius]

9. Fairness is always a concern - when accommodating one student's needs

or requests you always have to ask whether it's giving an advantage that other students don't have. But this one just isn't that difficult...

[Tsiyu]

4. Invasion of her privacy

Asshole behavior on the part of Edward Feldman, whom i will not dignify with any title. Asses don't get titles.

I think we should poll all pregnant women in CA and ask them if Feldman should be pink-slipped....

[aikoaiko]

6. That was a stupid way to handle his problem.

Do they not give incompletes at UC-Davis

[Blecht]

7. The guy is an idiot

He should not be teaching.

It's not that hard -- there's a thing called a syllabus. He should have all the rules clearly laid out in the syllabus for situations like this. Women having babies is not unusual.

One of the worst things an instructor can do is to change or make the rules as the term goes along. Of course there are special circumstances where it might be necessary, but a woman having a baby is not one of them.

[LisaL]

8. One would think this all should have defined before hand.

Not just for a pregnant student, but for students that have to miss these quizzes for whatever reason.