<p>I’m having a dispute on a pass/fail option for a P.E. class I want to take this coming spring. I would like to take the P.E. class pass/fail and have talked to the department chair for approval. He said he didn’t know if pass/fail even existed at my college and that he’d have to consult the registrar. </p>
<p>The registrar denied my request on the basis that the P.E. classes have traditionally been offered as graded A-B-C-D-F courses and that they cannot allow just me to take it pass/fail; instead, they would have to offer the option to all students. However, the P.E. department’s homepage EXPLICITLY states that ALL P.E. courses may be taken pass/fail. My college’s published academic catalog even also says the option exists.</p>
<p>I have documented this by printing out several copies of the webpage for proof and saving the HTML page. I have also submitted this proof to the registrar who has not commented on the matter yet. So my question about this is exactly what the topic title says: Are colleges legally liable for anything published on their website?</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s very fair that my request is denied despite the college’s website saying I ACTUALLY CAN do so. It seems to me that it’s an option that’s been buried for quite a long time and no one’s really noticed it until I came along. Do I have valid proof to have my request accepted even if it still gets denied? Who would I need to go see if my request gets denied despite all this proof?</p>
<p>If it’s published in the academic catalog, it may take time, but administration will probably honor the option. The same thing happened to me 25 years ago. As a freshman I was registered for a tap class through PE. The first class meeting was over-enrolled, and they said freshman would have to register for something else. I had just registered so I could “test out”, as a tap dancer for then 12 years with excellent training. So, I asked about testing out, and the profs. were confused…no, people can’t do so in dance courses. But, for PE courses they could, according to the catalog. Since I had registered through PE, they ended up honoring it. Gave me a test, written and dance, and I aced it and got the credits. Stick with it…be polite, but keep at it. It may lead to some sort of review administratively of the entire catalog, policies, etc. Good for you!</p>
<p>I know University of Michigan’s College of Engineering list incorrect requirements for doing a dual degree with Liberal Arts, in which is lists far fewer requirements than there actually are. It’s not something they override just because you can point to a website, they’ll just tell you the website is wrong.</p>
<p>Not particularly helpful, but I guess the point is no, I don’t think they have to stick to it. I’m sure there are plenty of lies on almost any college’s website. The rules of the college are not defined by what’s online.</p>
<p>Agreed ^
The website could just be outdated. Plus the class is PE… It’s probably not that hard of a class anyways. Otherwise, it’s probably not a requirement (never heard of a case where PE is a prereq) do just don’t take the class…</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who replied. I found out the outcome of my case… IT GOT APPROVED! They felt like I presented enough evidence to show that the offer was still valid since it’s been on the website for at least 8 years. I’m going to hope that this is a trouble-free experience though, since it’s mostly unprecedented at my college. I’m worried that when grades come around, I get something like a B put on my transcript and it should be a P instead. They told me that everything is filed and kept on record and so that shouldn’t happen, but I’m still paranoid.</p>
<p>Being paranoid is a good feeling to have, because sometimes information falls into a big black hole when students work on issues at school. Thus, to avoid being worried the entire semester and through the grade-posting time think about doing this:</p>
<p>Keep a record of ‘everything’… emails, names/dates of people you talked to in case your ‘nightmare’ comes true. Then you will be able to file an appeal so that the grade is changed to a Pass. Stuff sometimes happens at schools/info gets lost/it takes work to get the computer to ‘take’ a Pass v. a letter grade when the teacher tries to file the grade reports, etcetera. If you compile it all now, you will have it ready in case you need it. Congrats, though! I am so happy you triumphed. You did a good job documenting what the website shows. It will be interesting to see if the college leaves it as is, too, or if they change the website for the future. :)</p>
They felt like I presented enough evidence to show that the offer was still valid since it’s been on the website for at least 8 years. I’m going to hope that this is a trouble-free experience though, since it’s mostly unprecedented at my college. I’m worried that when grades come around, I get something like a B put on my transcript and it should be a P instead. They told me that everything is filed and kept on record and so that shouldn’t happen, but I’m still paranoid.</p>