The University Council voted Tuesday to double the amount of time students have to elect to take a class with pass/no credit grading.The decision will move the pass/no credit deadline to the eighth Wednesday of the fall and spring semesters. The current deadline is four weeks into the semester.

The resolution, passed by the University Council, was written by Mickey Ley, an AddRan representative for the House of Student Representatives. The resolution was approved by the house unanimously in November.

Provost Nowell Donovan said there was a reasonable amount of debate over the issue, but records were not kept on the vote.

Jace Thompson, Student Government Association president, said SGA’s hope in passing the resolution was to give students the opportunity to explore classes outside of their major. He said students might be more inclined to take classes they are interested in if they know they have more time to decide whether the class will affect their GPA.

William Slater, dean of the College of Communication, said he does not like pass/no credit grading and that he did not vote for the change in deadline.

“I think that any student who is interested in taking the course to explore what that area might be ought to approach it in the same way he or she approaches any other course,” Slater said.

He said he thinks the pass/no credit grading option compromises the rigor that a student puts into a course.

Miranda Leonard, a freshman modern dance major, said she has never taken a class pass/no credit before but might be more likely to do so with the new deadline. She said it seems like the new date would help students make a better decision.

Janie Hardin, a sophomore sociology major, said she has taken a class pass/no credit and wished she had been given more time to decide. She also said she has taken a class in which she didn’t have an exam until after the deadline and, in retrospect, wished she could have taken pass/no credit.

The resolution also included an item that supported giving students the option to accept the letter grade at the end of the semester, even if they had elected the pass/no credit option. This portion of the resolution was not passed.

Donovan said the registrar will be making changes to the university catalog to reflect the new deadline.

“It’s something that the student body wanted and we were able to see to that request,” he said.