A plus-minus grading system was approved Tuesday by the campus Faculty Senate.

The proposed change received 17 votes in favor and seven opposed, said Stacey Sloboda, co-chair of the Faculty Senate’s Undergraduate Education Policy committee. It now goes up to the campus’ administration for approval. 

Sloboda said the new policy would do little to change the institution’s GPA as a whole.

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MORE: How would a plus-minus grading system affect students?

The Faculty Senate took an informal vote at the Undergraduate Student Government meeting last month where about two-thirds of the students present voted against the system change. 

Sloboda said student input is important, but faculty has to decide what’s best for them and the university.

“We have been here longer and will be here longer than any individual student, and so the decision really is up to the faculty,” she said. “The faculty really needs to do what they think is in the best interest of the university’s academic program.”

SIU would join the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Chicago, Western Illinois University and Northern Illinois University in summer 2018 if approved by the administration. 

Anna Spoerre can be reached at [email protected] or 618-536-3325.