Handling Force Add Requests

tengrrl — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 05:23:39 +0000

As explained in the GTA Handbook section of the OCELOT site, “No faculty member is obligated to force add students to classes.” Do not sign force-add forms yourself. In the case of Technical Writing and Business Writing, all force-add requests for the department are handled by Sandra Ross in the Writing Center, in order to keep course loads balanced and make sure that the available spaces go to students with extenuating circumstances (like graduating seniors).

I frequently receive email requests for force-adds from students. They may share convincing stories or sad circumstances, but I am not in the position to judge whether they should be added to a course I am teaching. I no longer reply to the cirumstances that they share. Instead, everyone gets the same response, which tells them the department procedure.

Here’s the canned response that I set up in Gmail to respond to all students who email me about force-adding the course:

The English Department funnels all force-adds for English 3764 and 3774 through one person to help balance course loads and make sure the process is fair. You can find the procedure for force-adds on the English Department website:
http://www.undergraduate.english.vt.edu/courses/force-add.html

Last updated on 5th March, 2015, 1:44 AM

adds – Teaching Professional Writing

Handling Force Add Requests