From South Carolina:
Two Benedict College science professors have been fired after they refused to assign grades that rewarded students? effort as much as acquired knowledge.
President David Swinton dismissed Milwood Motley and Larry Williams when they defied his Success Equals Effort policy, which Swinton said provides struggling freshmen a leg up in adapting to college academics. …
Motley, who came to Benedict five years ago from the Morehouse School of Medicine, said he was uncomfortable with the concept from the beginning. But he went along with it grudgingly until he was confronted with an academic dilemma: giving a passing grade to a student he believed had not learned the course material.
Awarding a C to a student whose highest exam score was less than 40 percent was more than he could tolerate.
?There comes a time when you have to say this is wrong,? he said.
This spring, he defied the SEE policy, as did department colleague Williams. Neither has tenure. Williams would not comment for this story.
?I did it (awarded grades) strictly on academic performance,? Motley said. ?They told us to go back and recalculate the grades, and I just refused to do it.?
In early June, Motley and Williams were informed by letter they were fired.
