By Shayne Elizabeth Flores

Following Far Eastern University (FEU) Wellness and Recreation Program's (WRP) remark attributing failed grades to student lapses as stated by FEU Central Student Organization (FEUCSO), the department then accepted petitions regarding misencoded marks in a Facebook post last June 3.

“The WRP Department emphasized that announcements were made several times via Canvas and Facebook, and such inquiries were addressed during the last weeks of the semester. The WRP Department also clarified that the primary issue stemmed from students failing to synchronize their credit hours before grade encoding, resulting in course failures," the initial statement read. 

FEUCSO proposed to provide access to the grievance forms database, consider graduating students and battery exam takers, hold WRP grade consultations, and establish a WRP helpdesk to the department last May 29.

Pushing the proposal further, FEUCSO and Institute Student Councils submitted another letter to WRP negotiating possible interventions for students who failed the course under certain circumstances last May 30.

This includes students who failed to sync their credit hours, had their credit hours misencoded by instructors, did not get credits despite attendance, were marked as failed despite dropping the course, and encountered technical system glitches.

According to FEUCSO President Christmer Roland Ordanes, the organization processed an additional grievance letter escalating the concerns to the Institute of Education last May 31.

Following the appeals, FEUCSO advised students to monitor their Student Central accounts for the grade change.

Prior to the resolution, several posts in the Facebook group One Piyu Community echoed students’ frustrations upon receiving failed marks during the release of grades last May 28.

In an online interview with FEU Advocate, graduating Communication student Dheyleen Carlsy Cruz and Psychology student Krisha Mae Macaraeg shared they received failing marks despite completing the required 40 credit hours for their two WRP courses.

“From 40.5 [credit hours] na naka-record sa akin, 33 lang sa kanila (From the 40.5 recorded on my end, only 33 was recorded on theirs),” Cruz said.

The students immediately raised their concerns to WRP, revealing discrepancies in the department’s system.

“Tinanong niya [WRP instructor Keith Aldrin Crisostomo] kay Sir Jeremy [Pedregosa, former department head] and dinouble-check nila. Nung chine-check ni Sir Jeremy ‘yung section ko and other students’ grade under my section, du’n na nagkaalaman na madaming misencoded grades (He consulted Sir Jeremy and they double-checked it. When Sir Jeremy checked other students’ grades in my section, they discovered many misencoded grades),” Macaraeg shared.

Upon validating the reports of misencoded grades, WRP acknowledged the error on their end and instructed students to standby for the grade change.

Macaraeg’s misencoded grade had been changed while Cruz’s grade has yet to be resolved as of writing.

Based on the 2024 curriculum for the University’s new programs, Physical Activities Towards Health and Fitness or PATHFIT will replace WRP as FEU’s physical education course.

FEU Advocate inquired for WRP’s side on the matter but did not yet receive a response.

(Photo courtesy of FEUCSO Facebook page)