[Senate] [From Academic Senate Chair Barish] Regulations on Credit in Courses & Final Exams, Open Access Policy Opt-Out Choice, Student Absences, Academic Freedom & Civility Information, and Academic Integrity and Intellectual Property Information

[Cherysa Cortez]

*Sent on behalf of Academic Senate Chair Ken Barish*


September 24, 2025



TO:  Members of the Academic Senate

        Leila Haidar, President, ASUCR

        Jordan Steinhauser, President, GSA

        Senna Omar, Editor-in-Chief, The Highlander



FR:  Ken Barish, Chair

        Riverside Division



RE:  Regulations on Credit in Courses and Final Examinations

        Open Access Policy Opt-Out Choice

        Student Absences

        UCEP Annual Reminder About Threats to Academic Integrity and
Intellectual Property

        UC Academic Council Position on Academic Freedom and Civility





As we begin the new academic year, I would like to remind you of the
University of California Regulations on “Credit in Courses” and on “Final
Examinations.” I would also bring to your attention the opt-out option of
the open access policy and a suggestion concerning student absences.
Finally, I share the important reminder about academic integrity and
intellectual property from the University Committee on Educational Policy
and the Senate Academic Council’s position on academic freedom and civility.



Credit In Courses:



Regulation 760: “The value of a course in units shall be reckoned at the
rate of one unit for three hours’ work per week per term on the part of a
student, or the equivalent.” Related information may be found in the UCR
General Catalog under Policies and Regulations - Academic Policies.



Final Examinations



Regulation 770 – Examinations
<https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/bylaws-regulations/regulations/rpart3.html#r770>:
No student shall be excused from assigned final examinations except as
provided in SR 772 (D). Regulation 772 in its entirety is given below:

   1.

   Final examinations are required in all undergraduate courses, except as
   provided elsewhere in this Regulation. Whenever practicable each such
   examination shall be written and must be completed by all participants
   within a previously announced time limit. Examinations in non-laboratory
   courses may not exceed three hours' duration.
   2.

   Examinations are normally not required in laboratory courses or their
   equivalent, as individually determined by the appropriate Committee on
   Courses. At its option, the department concerned may require a final
   examination in any laboratory course, subject to prior announcement in the
   schedule of classes for the term in question.
   3.

   With the approval of the appropriate Committee on Courses and upon
   recommendation of the department concerned, the final examination may be
   omitted in any undergraduate course or sets of courses either once or for a
   longer period.
   4.

   At the end of the term in which a student is expected to be graduated,
   the student's major department may examine the student in the field of the
   major, may excuse the student from final examinations in courses offered by
   the department during that term, and, with the approval of the appropriate
   Committee on Courses, may assign a credit value to such general examination.



Open access:



On July 24, 2013 the Academic Senate adopted an Open Access Policy
<https://osc.universityofcalifornia.edu/scholarly-publishing/uc-open-access-policies-background/systemwide-senate/>
that
includes the expectation that all faculty will upload all scholarly
articles to a UC-supported repository at https://escholarship.org/
<https://escholarship.org/>. The types of articles covered are listed in
the policy. The policy also includes the possibility of opting-out from
this process by filling out the appropriate online waiver
<http://osc.universityofcalifornia.edu/open-access-policy/waiver-embargo-addendum/>
(please
note that opting out is not the default option in the policy)



Student absences:



Provost Watkins and I encourage all faculty to take into consideration the
suggestion below when dealing with student absences:



Students' attendance at University classes is always expected. It is
recognized that students’ absences may result from external circumstances,
as well as from activities that are important to a student's overall
educational experience and are consistent with the University's mission to
serve students. Some of these activities are also beneficial for the campus
culture and image. Faculty are encouraged to be cognizant of these
principles when articulating their procedures for handling absences in
their course policies.



UC Academic Council Position on Academic Freedom and Civility

The Academic Senate expresses its support for the tenet that UC campuses
should aspire to civil discourse, so long as this tenet is not allowed to
operate in practice as a restraint on academic freedom. While the Academic
Senate urges that discourse in any context, in or outside the classroom, be
respectful of individuals whose viewpoints one may not agree with, the
Senate strongly endorses the preeminence of the value of academic freedom.

Academic freedom includes the right of members of the university community
to express their views, even in passionate terms, on matters of public
importance. That right is a necessary part of what the U.S. Supreme Court
has called our “profound national commitment to the principle that debate
on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide‐open.”



Proposed by the University Committee on Academic Freedom

Endorsed by the Academic Council April 1, 2015



University Committee on Educational Policy Annual Reminder About Threats to
Academic Integrity and Intellectual Property

This is a reminder from the University Committee on Educational Policy
(UCEP) to all UC faculty to be vigilant about the threats to academic
integrity and intellectual property posed by online services where students
share copyrighted course materials and pay third parties for completing
students’ assignments, papers, and exams.

Posting of instructor-owned course materials to third-party websites
without the instructor’s permission is especially problematic because it
may at once violate intellectual property rights, provide opportunities for
students to cheat, and financially enrich these third-party online
services. In an effort to mitigate these risks, we recommend several
measures:

(1) remind students of the specific actions that constitute violations of
academic integrity and intellectual property policies and of the serious
consequences of committing such violations. This can be done through
statements in course syllabi and announcements in class meetings at the
beginning of each quarter or semester.

(2) include a copyright notice on your course materials. For some guidance
on copyright notices, please see the following link:
https://copyright.universityofcalifornia.edu/faqs/#h
<https://copyright.universityofcalifornia.edu/faqs/#h>.

(3) include the following sentence in your course materials in the header
or footer of course materials: “This content is protected and may not be
shared, uploaded, or distributed.” One online service, Course Hero, has
indicated that its filtering tool will generally prohibit the upload of
documents that contain this statement.

(4) define whether the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)
tools is acceptable. And, if so, articulate what type of use is acceptable
(e.g., are they allowed to share your course materials?). The syllabus
should notify students if they are required to acknowledge use of GenAI in
their coursework.

UCOP has issued similar guidance regarding the unauthorized uploading of
course materials; such guidance may be found here
<https://copyright.universityofcalifornia.edu/ownership/protect-course-materials.html>
. In addition, each campus has its own policies and procedures related to
violations of academic integrity, and faculty should make sure they are
fully aware of the most up-to-date information on this topic. The UCOP
webpage referenced in this paragraph includes a drop-down menu titled “UC
Resources,” which includes links to further information about policies and
resources on each campus.

UCEP recognizes there are no easy solutions to the unauthorized posting of
course materials onto third party websites and that dealing with these
issues adds yet another item to a faculty member’s long list of
responsibilities. The measures referenced in this memo are, however,
relatively straightforward and not unduly onerous, especially given the
seriousness and importance of the concerns they address.

Prepared by the University Committee on Educational Policy

Updated September 2024
- - - - - - -
Cherysa Cortez

Executive Director, Academic Senate

University Office Building 221

cherysac at ucr.edu

*UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE*

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