Spring 2020 School Policy Changes

Ad Hoc Educational Policy for Yale School of Art

March 21, 2020

The Yale School of Art understands that anxieties and uncertainties related to the sudden disruption of our hands-on studio environment may be deepened by the transition to online learning. Taking the well being of our students into account the School will implement an ad-hoc educational policy in order to afford maximal flexibility, recognizing that students may be facing learning situations that are challenging. To assure academic success in this unavoidable arrangement we’re making the following changes to School policy for Spring 2020, effective immediately:

1. You may withdraw from one or more elective courses up until the end of the final exam period, 6 pm on May 6th without receiving a “W” on your transcript. Students should avoid falling below full-time enrollment and be aware of associated consequences, such as visa status, loan deferment timelines, etc.

2. The graduation requirement remains at 60 units, with credit distributions across core classes and academic requirements intact. Because programmatic requirements occupy a large percentage of your curriculum in a given semester, the withdrawal policy does not apply to those courses. Instead, adjustments to workload, assignments and reviews that benefit the student’s successful completion given the challenges of this semester will be allowed within the framework of each course.

3. As classes and critiques commence online, students are expected to continue their attendance. However, the School’s attendance/absentee requirement, whereby two unexcused absences from any class results in automatic failure, will be suspended for the remainder of the semester. Adjusted attendance policies will be at the discretion of the instructor teaching each course. Faculty will notify students, program directors and the registrar of their adjusted attendance rules in writing the week of March 23rd.

4. No student’s work will be evaluated on the basis of financial means or access to opportunity, quantified by physical production quality, accessibility to facilities/services, the accessibility to a technical set-up for remote education, or the like.

5. Faculty will consider the individual circumstances of each student to participate as appropriate in class sessions and other activities and accept any reasonable accommodation requested (in relation to one’s own health/wellness, obligations to family needs, as well as accessibility/connectivity challenges, etc.)

6. Students may be eligible for an early pass if they have completed substantial work for a course (critiques, studio visits, online “visitor” lectures, program reviews will be handled departmentally). Instructors reserve the right to determine whether early pass requests make sense given the course subject, material and format. If they allow it, the student must initiate their individual request, and may do so in writing only after they have met, at minimum, a 75% attendance and deliverables threshold of the course requirements set out in the original syllabus. Granting an early pass is at the sole discretion of the instructor, based on equitable assessment of a student’s active participation, work and demonstrated learning outcomes.

7. End of semester reviews, in whatever form they take, should focus on work as iterative, works in progress; Final grading/assessments may take into account plans, process ideas, writing, prototyping, etc. without expectation of full material realization, even if projects are intended to be completed and submitted later. The student’s presence and performance in the department up until interruption of studio access will be considered.

8. Incompletes and recorded extensions should be assiduously avoided as there would be significant challenges to have grading from this term’s work extend beyond the scheduled end of term (even in the event that thesis projects are still being completed). Incomplete grades may only be granted on an exceptional basis.

9. Final program reviews and remaining Thesis reviews will be handled individually by each department with leniency and in some cases, re-envisioning or postponement of critical scheduled events (such as exhibitions). Full scale work will not be expected, and guidelines for final reviews and assessments will be reinterpreted and shared with students by April 1st.

10. As a university-wide policy, there will be no refund of tuition fees as credits and degrees are still being earned. As outlined herein, the school will make all reasonable accommodations to assist each student in the successful completion of their Yale degree (or academic year, if continuing).