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I am department head. An adjunct professor teaching two courses in my department left without notice. He did not deliver the grades to me.

We have no staff in that field to give the final exam again. Even so, I wouldn't know how to convince the students to take the exam again, and I do not know what to do with the class activity, which should be part of the final grade.

The registrar is forcing me to deliver the grades, but I have no idea what to do.

Does anyone have any experience to share? What do department heads normally do in this situation?

Melanie Shebel
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Mohammad Hassan
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    Do you mean - what to do about the grades? Or what to do about the fugitive faculty? – RoboKaren Feb 23 '15 at 05:41
  • Can you get into the course management system (Blackboard, etc.) and see if there are any grades input? – RoboKaren Feb 23 '15 at 05:41
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    To be clear, are you saying the prof administered an exam, took all of the exams (meaning you do not have the completed exams), and then simply never returned to the school? Do you have anything on which to base the students' grades or literally nothing at all? – earthling Feb 23 '15 at 07:32
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    It is maybe good to ask for ideas here. But of course your superiors (dean, provost, whatever they are called) are the ones to discuss this with. They may have experience of something similar in the past. And they have overall responsibility now. – GEdgar Feb 23 '15 at 14:16
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    What would you do if one of your instructors died at an inconvenient time? – emory Feb 23 '15 at 19:21
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    @emory: This may not be quite the same thing as someone dying unexpectedly. In that situation, you would probably obtain the materials such as gradebook and final exams from the next of kin. –  Feb 23 '15 at 20:58
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    Could you please edit the question to say whether a final exam or other assessment was actually administered to the classes? (The students should know this even if the missing prof hasn't told you.) Also, it may be helpful to know in what country this occurred. – Bob Brown Feb 24 '15 at 01:27
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    It would be good if someone high-ranking would protect this question. We're getting cruft answers now. – RoboKaren Feb 24 '15 at 05:13
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    I don't understand why you're asking random strangers on the internet instead of talking to the relevant people in your university's administration. – David Richerby Feb 24 '15 at 09:45
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    @BenCrowell - Yet there's always a possibility that those materials would not be available for some reason (e.g., they could never be found, they were destroyed in the house fire, they are in a password-protected file, etc.) The entire situation sounds so odd that I wonder if the instructor lost his own records. In any case, could the school at least get back whatever wages were paid? – J.R. Feb 24 '15 at 10:26
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    @DavidRicherby - I agree that this should be taken up in the institution itself, but the situation is so strange there's no harm in seeing if someone has a good idea. It's also an instructive question, as it could prompt someone to implement a policy somewhere (for example, requiring instructors to enter grades into an LMS, so they can be recovered in the event of an incapacitating accident or sudden death.) – J.R. Feb 24 '15 at 10:29

7 Answers7

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I assume you've already tried to convince/pressure the instructor to provide enough information to assign grades. Assuming he's not dreadfully ill, it would be incredibly unprofessional for him to refuse, but sometimes people are unprofessional. If you don't know him well, is there someone else in the department who could try to talk some sense into him? Was anyone else involved in the course, such as a TA or grader?

Once you've convinced yourself that you just can't get the grades, you need to take this up with the administration. It's a really awkward situation, and you shouldn't be improvising a solution. Whatever you do should be discussed with and approved in advance by the dean (or whoever has a similar level of responsibility in your university). Presumably this issue has arisen before, and the previous decisions will serve as a precedent. If this is the very first time, then you'll be setting a precedent. Either way, you don't need to take sole responsibility for figuring out what to do, and you shouldn't.

Anonymous Mathematician
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    +1. In addition, involve a lawyer. Depending on how this plays out, his students could sue the school. Explain to the fugitive that if that happens, he may well get sued in turn to recover any damages the school needs to pay to students, since he very likely has broken his employment contract. This may motivate him to cooperate. In addition, make sure your next steps are legally OK, so you keep the possibility of suing him open. – Stephan Kolassa Feb 23 '15 at 08:04
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    Definitely agree with @StephanKolassa - this is not a standard resignation, this sounds like delinquency; that the professor left and took school property with him (completed examinations, test results, etc?). If this is true, then aside from whatever damage control measures need to be taken, this is very much a legal matter and needs to be pursued as such. – J... Feb 23 '15 at 09:37
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    @StephanKolassa I would think the school could sue the fugitive even if none of the students sue the school. The fugitive was presumably paid a salary under some employment contract and then violated the terms of that contract. – Andreas Blass Feb 23 '15 at 14:54
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    The exams themselves may be stolen property, you might even be able to involve the police if the fugitive is still local. (Again your school's lawyer will know more about this kind of option.) – Noah Snyder Feb 23 '15 at 15:21
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    The exams aren't likely stolen property in any US state, and the police likely won't help you recover them. They will almost certainly tell you that it's a matter for the civil, not criminal, courts. However, they might be willing to do welfare check at the professor's home if he has gone completely incommunicado (stress on the "might" part of this). If he's actually alive and just refusing to come answer calls and emails, you might be able to ask him in person for the exam papers to have someone else grade. – Bill Barth Feb 23 '15 at 15:51
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    Seriously do not make this your personal legal problem. It is a legal problem between the school, the prof, and the students. Do not start legal action, do not threaten legal action, do not retain your own attorney -- unless another party targets you. Then get your own. – Colin McLarty Feb 23 '15 at 17:05
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    @StephanKolassa your comment should really be an answer. – Mindwin Remember Monica Feb 23 '15 at 19:08
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    I do not think it is appropriate to refer to the instructor as a fugitive. According to employment at will, employees (i.e., the instructor) can quit at any time without notice. We may say the instructor acted discourteously. The instructor is not a fugitive or a delinquent. He is not liable for any damages the school might owe students. – emory Feb 23 '15 at 21:43
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    @emory even if that were the case (and I think it is preposterous of a university to employ a teacher at will instead of by semesters or years), he would not be allowed to take the exams. – Davidmh Feb 23 '15 at 22:42
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    @emory Even "at will" employment contracts can include clauses that survive after the employment ends. An obvious example would be non-disclosure agreements in industry. In academia, it would be reasonable to require an instructor who quits to provide the relevant information about the students' performance to the university. – Andreas Blass Feb 23 '15 at 22:55
  • In addition to the lawyer comments... the OP should contact the Vice Chancellor's office (or someone in a similar position) as soon as possible. Even as the HOD, besides giving evidence and testimony, the legal side of things is not and should not be his/her problem. Dealing with the issue of grades is, though any decisions should still be given the OK by the university administration. – Moriarty Feb 24 '15 at 11:12
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    @ColinMcLarty I don't think anyone was suggesting a personal attorney. More likely, one representing the institution itself. And from the initial comment suggesting it, moreso one in an advisory role at this stage. – jpmc26 Feb 25 '15 at 01:05
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    @AndreasBlass considering typical adjunct compensation it would be unreasonable to ask them to do the things they are already being asked to do (lesson planning, grading, office hours, etc.) Many adjuncts earn less than minimum wage (after including outside of the classroom work). If McDonalds can poach your adjuncts, then you should expect stuff like this to happen from time to time. – emory Feb 26 '15 at 12:21
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If the materials to base the grades on are missing or stolen, the dean should be dealing with this. In addition to the issue of the materials being missing, this brings into question the competency of the prof and whether this course was properly taught. Your school/department could lose accreditiation if this is handled incorrectly.

Personally, I think the fairest thing would be to administer an exam to determine the competency of the students. Credit for the course should be awarded on a pass/fail basis.
Any students who wish (i.e. those who think this was their strongest/most time consuming course and were counting on it for a grade point average boost) should be allowed to retake the course at no charge for a grade. I would suggest scheduling an additional evening session to help accommodate them.

GWP
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    The problem seems to be that there isn't currently anyone on staff who is sufficiently expert in the field to write such an exam. – Nate Eldredge Feb 24 '15 at 01:18
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    @NateEldredge I bet you could get a PhD student/post doc from someplace else to review the syllabus and teaching materials and write and grade an exam for a couple of thousand dollars. There are generally tons of people willing to adjunct teach an entire course for $5000. – StrongBad Feb 24 '15 at 10:50
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Seems to me that how this is handled is beyond a department head's level of responsibility.

If you consider some of the solutions given, would it really be appropriate for your department to handle it differently from another department anywhere in the university? This situation has the potential to significantly impact the reputation of the institution.

So, you could "manage upwards"; in the corporate world this is easy, but depending on your university this line may be unclear:

Identify a set of possible approaches and their corresponding pros and cons. Take these to your supervising authority and have a decision made and signed off. This may require consultation with the legal department.

Keith
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There is probably a university wide policy for this, or at least for similar cases.

In my university the policy was that if exams got lost etc. a student would get the 90% mark (few students could have achieved this realistically) and to accomodate the top students a free chance was given to do a resit.

If you don't have anyone that can facilitate a resit, you may need to reach out to other universities, but in practice most students will celebrate their mark.

Dennis
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  • I think this makes the most sense. It might be a little unfair to the students who really earned the grade, but its a whole lot more fair than not giving anybody credit for the time and money they spent to take that class. – nick Feb 24 '15 at 22:46
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    This gives almost all students a strong incentive to hijack the exam script delivery... – smci Feb 25 '15 at 00:23
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Assuming the following

  • the old prof is gone for good;
  • there are no available grades in the system;
  • the exams went with the prof, and have possibly been destroyed;
  • we are talking about last fall’s term, so the course has finished and the students have moved on.

If the class isn’t absolutely vital, assigning all students who weren’t failing going into the class “Credit” might be acceptable. You can get that information from students’ copies of previous assignments returned. If the former professor isn’t answering, the wheels of justice turn so slowly that you won’t get them back in time.

TRiG
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Joshua
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  • Why is the beginning of this answer exactly the same as another answer which came a day before yours? – kleineg Feb 25 '15 at 16:48
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    I credited it and gave a different result from the same assumptions. The editor removed the credit. – Joshua Feb 25 '15 at 17:27
  • Ah, got it, just wondering. I think you have the right idea here by the way. – kleineg Feb 26 '15 at 18:29
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    In case you're wondering about if the class is in fact absolutely vital: in that case you need a new professor pronto, and this last half semester is the least of your worries. – Joshua May 04 '15 at 03:30
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Ideas:

You can give the students full refunds for this class, and let them take it again for free whenever you can offer the class again.

Does your school offer some sort of no credit option, like 'auditing' a class, that doesn't give a grade, but basically says hey I've taken this class. This could be given at least as a temporary grade until everything is decided about what to do.

You can let the students resubmit whatever work they've done for a new class, if what they have isn't enough to get a 'good' grade in the current class.

If it's a class required for graduation, and can't offer it anymore you could ignore rather or not it's required for graduation for these students.

Bryan Ritter
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Assuming the following:

  • the old prof is gone for good
  • there are no available grades in the system
  • the exams went with the prof, and possibly destroyed
  • we are talking about last fall's term, so the course has finished and the students have moved on

It looks like a possibly unrecoverable situation. The students did their part, not their problem the tests didn't get marked and they are entitled to the credit and the grade.

To phrase it in a contractual issue, the students contracted with the university for the education and agreed to prove their competence within a specified time period. The university in turn agreed to provide academic credit and a grade. The students did their part, the university cannot demand extra work from the students due to a failing on it's part. That the professor absconded with the final exams is not the student's problem.

I would say that unless it is a critically important course, like "Infectious Diseases 320" or "Nuclear Physics 440" where an incorrect grade could be disastrous, assign a grade near the student's average in other courses. Some students may rightly feel they are entitled to a higher grade, those same students will likely understand the situation and agree to rewrite the final.

Remember that "fair" in many cases is what everyone agrees with. If I think I deserve a B+, and you offer me one based on my semester average (along with a crystal-clear, full disclosure explanation of what happened) I will be ok with it. If I think I deserve an A I may consider wether that grade will actually make a difference and take the B+ rather than rewrite the final.

(and it looks like someone borrowed my assumptions)

paul
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    You can't fairly assign a grade that a student didn't earn other than the maximum (A, 100%, etc.) or, perhaps, "credit" (which wouldn't count towards their GPA). No student I know of would be understanding of the situation and accept the assignment of a random grade near their current average. – Bill Barth Feb 23 '15 at 14:26
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    @BillBarth And, further, you can't fairly assign the maximum as a grade either—that's completely unfair to those students who put in more effort and time to get a better understanding, and defeats the certification process. – wchargin Feb 23 '15 at 15:20
  • @BillBarth as I said in the final sentence (which you apparently didn't read) any student who doesn't like it can re-take the final. I think you will find a large percentage will accept the deal. It's also rather unlikely that someone averaging in the mid-70s would pull a 95 in this one course. – paul Feb 23 '15 at 23:25
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    "Some students may rightly feel they are entitled to a higher grade, those same students will likely understand the situation." is the final sentence that I see on my screen. I don't see anything in your answer about retaking the exam. – Bill Barth Feb 24 '15 at 00:39
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    This is a good example of what can happen if you take matters into your own hands: in a situation like this, many people are going to be unhappy seemingly no matter what happens. So you need to kick the decision of what to do high enough up the administrative ladder that you are not involved in any blame or appeals process that may take place. This is not a time to shoot from the hip, and though I think this solution is especially bad, just about any solution that the department head comes up with on his own (e.g. give everyone A's) will cause complaints and receive scrutiny from above. – Pete L. Clark Feb 24 '15 at 05:01
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    @Pete - Exactly; this is why deans get paid the big bucks. – J.R. Feb 24 '15 at 10:33
  • @BillBarth my bad - looks like the last few words disappeared somewhere along the line. – paul Feb 24 '15 at 11:27