A bill is moving forward at the Arizona Capitol that would allow public university students to challenge a grade if they believed political bias played a role.
The House Education Committee narrowly advanced SB 1477 at its meeting Tuesday.
The bill would create a grade challenge department within the Arizona Board of Regents that would be run by volunteers.
ABOR’s Thomas Adkins said the board is opposed to the bill in part because all three public universities already have processes in place for grade challenges.
“That allows students to start with both an informal process that encourages a conversation between the student and the instructor that then can escalate to the dean and then progress all the way up to a larger academic committee," he said.
He said it would also put an unfunded burden on the board to create additional satellite offices at each of the universities.
"Although it would be staffed by volunteers, the board would be tasked with selecting those volunteers and of course managing those offices across the state," Adkins said. "We have about 40 total employees and we think this will be a difficult strain for us to take on."
Republican state Rep. Rachel Jones said the bill stems from ad hoc committee meetings this summer where some Republicans reported students with conservative beliefs feeling silenced on university campuses.
“Some of these students, to my understanding, are feeling the need to lie about their political beliefs so that they get good grades and things like that," Jones said. "To me this just seems like a very small step to give those students the support that they might need.”
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