2020 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 52
BY SENATOR FIELDS
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To urge and request the Board of Regents and the postsecondary education management
boards to adopt a flexible and holistic admissions policy for the summer and fall
semesters of the 2020 academic year, due to the disruption caused throughout the
state's postsecondary educational system by the COVID-19 pandemic.
WHEREAS, our colleges and universities responded quickly and decisively to the
public health emergency caused by COVID-19 by closing campus buildings, enabling
faculty and staff to work from home, and moving instruction online in record time; and
WHEREAS, the current admission process poses an additional challenge for new
students and transfer students who seek to enroll in a postsecondary education institution;
and
WHEREAS, it is clear that existing admission policies, standards, and criteria were
not created to address current prevailing circumstances that are beyond the control of both
students and postsecondary institutions; and
WHEREAS, a student might not be able to meet existing admission standards
because his high school, college, or university had to shift to online instruction with varying
degrees of success, reduce course offerings, or institute a pass/fail grading system, which can
negatively impact a student's grade point average; and
WHEREAS, certain student test scores may not be available as testing companies,
including ACT and SAT, postpone or cancel testing dates and qualifying exams for
Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses are negatively impacted; and
WHEREAS, every student deserves an admissions process that is fair, realistic, and
attainable given the educational landscape significantly disrupted by COVID-19; and
WHEREAS, flexible, holistic admission policies and criteria will ensure that
prospective students have a full and fair shot, despite the fact that they are currently studying
under dramatically different and, for many, highly stressful circumstances; and
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WHEREAS, colleges and universities across the country, including the University
of California, are significantly easing admission standards in response to the unprecedented
upheaval in the educational system caused by COVID-19; and
WHEREAS, the legislature has every confidence that Louisiana's postsecondary
education management boards and institutions, with support from the Board of Regents, will
fully embrace this call for flexibility in evaluating a student's application for admissions and
adopt admission standards that remove every possible barrier to student admission.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
urge and request the Board of Regents and the postsecondary education management boards
to adopt a flexible and holistic admissions policy for the summer and fall semesters of the
2020 academic year, due to the disruptions caused throughout the state's postsecondary
educational system by the COVID-19 pandemic.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
commissioner of higher education, the chairman of the Board of Regents and each of the
four postsecondary education management boards, and the president of each postsecondary
education system.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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