Communications
Dear Students, Faculty and Staff,
I'm writing with additional information regarding classes, exams and other academic activities for the remainder of the Fall 2025 semester. As we continue to prioritize the safety and well-being of our students, faculty and staff in the wake of yesterday's tragic events, we must balance the importance of providing clear guidance on educational assessment with our responsibility to ensure the thriving of every member of our community.
After extensive discussion with academic and faculty leadership from across campus, we have decided to cancel all remaining in-person exams for Fall 2025 courses at all schools, with the exception of the Warren Alpert Medical School and the IE Brown Executive MBA program in the School of Professional Studies (SPS). Leadership at the Medical School and SPS will follow up shortly with those student populations to provide specific guidance. Other final assessments may have due date extensions (see details below).
Students in courses with work still outstanding have three options:
- Students may elect to conclude the course and accept a final grade based on their work submitted prior to December 13, with no penalty for work originally due after December 13 that is not submitted.
- Students may elect to retroactively change their grade option for the course to satisfactory/no credit (S/NC). Students who elect this option will receive a notation on their transcripts indicating that the change was made due to extenuating circumstances. The University is currently working with the Office of Information Technology to develop a mechanism to make this change. We will follow up with additional information within the next week.
- In courses (residential, professional or online) with a previously assigned final paper, project or take-home exam, students may elect to complete and submit the work for a grade, whether that be for the originally selected grade option or the revised S/NC option.
Students must communicate their decisions about each of their courses by January 7, 2026. For each course in which students do not communicate their selections by this date, the student will receive a final grade in accordance with the grade option they selected earlier in the semester and based on work submitted prior to December 13.
For those who elect to submit previously assigned work, that work must be submitted to instructors by January 7, 2026.
All grades must be submitted by January 14, 2026. We will work with department chairs and deans to ensure that faculty have sufficient support to complete their grading by this deadline. Unless all final work is already submitted, faculty should refrain from entering final grades until the deadline for students to select their desired options (January 7).
Due to these extended deadlines, the Committee on Academic Standing (CAS)'s review for undergraduates will be delayed for the Spring 2026 semester. Students with questions about CAS review may contact cas-petitions@brown.edu.
We will send follow-up communications regarding Winter Session in the coming days.
For questions:
- undergraduate students should contact college@brown.edu,
- doctoral and MFA students should contact graduate_dean@brown.edu,
- master's students should contact spsdean@brown.edu, and
- faculty should contact provost@brown.edu.
I am grateful for all that the members of our community have done and continue to do to support one another in the face of this tragedy.
Sincerely,
Francis J. Doyle III
Provost