AA 2020-04

1.0 Policy Purpose

1.1 The limited suspension of the GWAR offers graduating students the most equitable solution given that 1) the Chancellor’s Office Memorandum dated March 12, 2020 prohibits the University from offering students matriculating before 2021 both of the GWAR options to which they are entitled per the University Catalog; and 2) students must be able to graduate without investing additional time and incurring unanticipated expenses associated with taking a GWAR-certifying course.

2.0 Policy Statement

2.1 The global pandemic COVID 19 has disrupted the lives of individuals across the nation, state, and Southern California region. The state’s mandatory stay-at-home orders and prohibitions on assembly have prompted the Chancellor’s Office to suspend the Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR) on all campuses that offer in-person testing until the Fall 2021 term, by which time campuses are expected to have implemented course-based options for meeting the GWAR (see Chancellor’s Office Memorandum dated March 12, 2020).

2.2 The recommendation to suspend the GWAR was made in response to a global pandemic and as such did not follow “normal” processes, though it was approved by the University Writing Committee (UWC), a broadly representative body that includes faculty representatives from the Colleges, the Dean of Undergraduate Studies, the WAC Program, the Composition Program, the GWAR Program, Retention and Advising, the Toro Learning and Testing Center, the Graduate Council, the Educational Policy Committee of the Academic Senate, the General Education Committee, and Associated Students Incorporated. The UWC consulted separately with the Chancellor’s Office, the Dean of Undergraduate Studies, the Educational Policy Committee, the Senate Executive Committee, the Composition Committee, the Writing Center Director, the University Student Learning Outcomes and Assessment Committee Chair, the Chairs of the Department of English and of Interdisciplinary Studies, the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, and the Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities.

3.0 Policy

3.1 The Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement (AA 2017-11) will be suspended effective Spring 2020, to be reinstated by Fall 2021 in accordance with the Chancellor's Office memorandum dated March 12, 2020.

3.2 Students who have catalog rights through Fall 2020 and are expected to graduate in any term where the GWE is suspended or prohibited due to COVID-19 will be exempted from satisfying the GWAR and shall graduate as planned provided all other university and department or program requirements are met.

4.0 Related Information

4.1 AA 2017-11 Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement Policy

4.2 CSUDH Academic Senate, EXEC 20-10 Temporary Suspension of Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR) in response to COVID-19