2. General Policies & Procedures
School of Music policy requires that to earn credit for a course, a student must be officially enrolled by the end of the second full week of the term and attend at least 75% of all class meetings. Faculty members may establish additional attendance requirements as they deem necessary and outlined in their course syllabus. Any student who is not present for at least 75% of the scheduled class meetings for any course will automatically receive a grade of “F” for the course. Any University-related activity necessitating an absence from class will count as an absence when determining whether a student has attended the required 75% of class meetings.
Undergraduate Course Repeat Policy | Office of the Registrar | Baylor University
School of Music Policy
Students currently seeking a music degree (BM, BME, BA Music) may not repeat a course in the Music Core course work in their major after receiving a grade of “F” in that course for the second time.
Baylor University Policy
A student may repeat a course for which his or her highest earned grade is a “C-” or below. A student may also repeat a course, when approved by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, for which he or she needs to earn a higher grade in order to fulfill a prerequisite for a course requirement for a degree, major, or minor. (A student is encouraged to review degree/major/minor requirements for policies governing minimum grades needed in those areas.)
A student will have a maximum of three attempts for any one course. A course that has received a grade or a “W” notation is considered an attempt.
Courses attempted at Baylor University, which includes courses for which a student received a “W” notation, may not be repeated at another institution for transfer to Baylor University. All grades earned at Baylor University will be calculated in the term and cumulative grade point average (GPA).
Academic Forgiveness
A student may request to have the first grade earned (not a “W” notation) from a repeated course excluded from the calculation of their grade point average (GPA) for a maximum of three courses during their undergraduate career, where the original grade earned was a “C-” or below. If a student attempts a course a third time and Academic Forgiveness is applied, then all grades except the first will be used to calculate the grade point average (GPA). Once applied to a particular course, Academic Forgiveness cannot be cancelled or removed and may not be appealed.
Plagiarism or any form of cheating involves a breach of student-teacher trust. This means that any work submitted under your name is expected to be your own, neither composed by anyone else as a whole or in part, nor handed over to another person for complete or partial revision. Be sure to document all ideas that are not your own. In addition, you must not provide course materials to other students, whether individually or generally (such as online) that would enable them to gain an unfair academic advantage. Instances of plagiarism or any other act of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Honor Council and may result in failure of the course. Not understanding plagiarism is not an excuse. We expect you, as a Baylor student, to be intimately familiar with the Honor Code at:
While Baylor University has not adopted an official University-wide policy regarding the use of artificial intelligence, it has granted each professor the authority to institute their own policies and regulations as to what will be accepted use of artificial intelligence in their classroom. It is up to the student to understand the policy for each of their courses and what is considered acceptable use of artificial intelligence with their professors.
In the event that a professor does not include an artificial intelligence policy in their class syllabus, it is up to the student to seek guidance from their professor before utilizing the tool in their course work.
Any student who needs academic accommodations related to a documented disability should inform their professor immediately at the beginning of the semester. The professor will be able to obtain appropriate documentation and information regarding a student’s accommodations from the Office of Access and Learning Accommodation (OALA). Any additional assistance regarding accommodations is available on the first floor of Sid Richardson Hall, East Wing in the Paul L. Foster Success Center or call (254) 710-3605 or email OALA@baylor.edu.
The Family Education and Right to Privacy Act (FERPA) governs the disclosure of student records and information. FERPA provides that student records other than published directory information must remain private and confidential. Student non-directory information which this law protects includes class grades and grade point averages; social security numbers; disciplinary records; parent or guardian’s name, address, and phone numbers; class schedules; and health records. However, this law does permit the disclosure, without the consent of the student involved, of confidential student information to faculty members with legitimate educational interests.
A student may consent to allowing specific information to be shared with specific individuals on a specific date. In this case a student must sign a FERPA consent form. Instructions on how to complete the FERPA consent form can be found here:
BearWeb FERPA Release Form | Office of the Registrar | Baylor University
Decisions regarding Academic Probation/Suspension in the School of Music are made by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
At any time a student’s term and/or cumulative grade point average (GPA) is below 2.0 on a 4.0 scale, the dean of the academic unit in which the student is enrolled will notify the student that he or she will be placed on academic notice during the next term. Any student with 30 or fewer hours who is placed on academic notice is required to develop and implement an academic improvement plan. Details will be specified in the academic notice letter from the student's academic dean. Any student on academic notice is required to obtain academic advisement before registering for the next term. If at the end of the probation term both the student's term GPA and cumulative GPA are 2.0 or above, the student will be removed from academic notice. However, if at the end of an academic notice term the student's term GPA is 2.0 or above, but the student's cumulative GPA is still below 2.0, the student will be continued on academic notice until the cumulative GPA also reaches at least a 2.0.
Once a student has served at least one term of academic notice, if the student's term GPA is ever below a 2.0 for a subsequent term, the student will be subject to academic suspension.
Any student who is subject to academic suspension will be informed in writing by the dean of the academic unit in which the student is enrolled that academic suspension appears to be appropriate. The letter will indicate that the student has five (5) business days from the date of the letter to provide the dean with relevant information (change of grade, verifiable medical condition, or other circumstances) that might affect the dean's decision. After reviewing the student's academic records and other relevant information supplied to the dean by the student, the dean will decide whether to place the student on academic suspension or to extend the student's period of academic notice. The dean will notify the student in writing of the decision. The period of suspension for a student who is placed on academic suspension for the first time is two enrollment terms (summer and fall or spring and summer). If a student is suspended at the end of the summer term, the suspension is fall only. The period of suspension for a student who is placed on academic suspension for a second time is three (3) subsequent enrollment terms (summer counts as one enrollment term). A student who is reinstated following his or her academic suspension is on academic notice and must meet the terms of academic notice to avoid another academic suspension or a dismissal.
Students must apply for reinstatement following academic suspension. The student must explain to the dean in writing his or her assessment of the reasons for the academic difficulties and how, if reinstated, he or she expects to change academic performance so as to raise the term and cumulative GPA to the required level. The dean may elect to grant the student's appeal or extend the academic suspension for an additional term.