SLS 20RS-839 ORIGINAL
2020 Regular Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 21
BY SENATOR FIELDS
STUDENTS. Requests the Board of Regents and the postsecondary education management
boards to adopt a flexible and holistic admissions policy for summer and fall 2020 semesters
due to COVID-19.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To urge and request the Board of Regents and the postsecondary education management
3 boards to adopt a flexible and holistic admissions policy for the summer and fall
4 semesters of the 2020 academic year, due to the disruption caused throughout the
5 state's postsecondary educational system by the COVID-19 pandemic.
6 WHEREAS, our colleges and universities responded quickly and decisively to the
7 public health emergency caused by COVID-19 by closing campus buildings, enabling
8 faculty and staff to work from home, and moving instruction online in record time; and
9 WHEREAS, the current admission process poses an additional challenge for new
10 students and transfer students who seek to enroll in a postsecondary education institution;
11 and
12 WHEREAS, it is clear that existing admission policies, standards, and criteria were
13 not created to address current prevailing circumstances that are beyond the control of both
14 students and postsecondary institutions; and
15 WHEREAS, a student might not be able to meet existing admission standards
16 because his high school, college, or university had to shift to online instruction with varying
17 degrees of success, reduce course offerings, or institute a pass/fail grading system which can
18 negatively impact a student's grade point average; and
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SLS 20RS-839 ORIGINAL
1 WHEREAS, certain student test scores may not be available as testing companies,
2 including ACT and SAT, postpone or cancel testing dates and qualifying exams for
3 Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses are negatively impacted; and
4 WHEREAS, every student deserves an admissions process that is fair, realistic, and
5 attainable; given the educational landscape significantly disrupted by COVID-19; and
6 WHEREAS, flexible, holistic admission policies and criteria will ensure that
7 prospective students have a full and fair shot, despite the fact that they are currently studying
8 under dramatically different and, for many, highly stressful circumstances; and
9 WHEREAS, colleges and universities across the country, including the University
10 of California, are significantly easing admission standards in response to the unprecedented
11 upheaval in the educational system caused by COVID-19; and
12 WHEREAS, the Senate has every confidence that Louisiana's postsecondary
13 education management boards and institutions, with support from the Board of Regents, will
14 fully embrace this call for flexibility in evaluating a student's application for admissions and
15 adopt admission standards that remove every possible barrier to student admission.
16 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
17 does hereby urge and request the Board of Regents and the postsecondary education
18 management boards to adopt a flexible and holistic admissions policy for the summer and
19 fall semesters of the 2020 academic year, due to the disruptions caused throughout the state's
20 postsecondary educational system by the COVID-19 pandemic.
21 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
22 commissioner of higher education, the chairman of the Board of Regents and each of the
23 four postsecondary education management boards, and the president of each postsecondary
24 education system.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Jeanne C. Johnston.
DIGEST
SR 21 Original 2020 Regular Session Fields
Requests 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.
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