Committee advances bill to bar nonacademic factors from college grades

Representative Chad Caldwell told the House Postsecondary Education Committee that House Bill 3,700 is the product of the Oklahoma Free Speech Committee’s multi‑campus review and would require that "students' grades would only be based on an academic basis," including attendance, and not on a student’s opinions or beliefs.

Caldwell said the change formalizes practices he described as an existing baseline at some institutions and cited a Rose State policy that already specified grades must be based on academic criteria. He also said the bill was not drafted in response to any single recent incident and that students would still retain the ability to appeal a grade through existing campus review processes; Caldwell described appeals going to independent panels of professors, staff and students where appropriate.

Members raised concerns about local control and whether students implicitly accept campus policies by enrolling. Representative McCain asked whether institutions had been consulted; Caldwell said campuses were asked during the review and that many operated under an unwritten expectation that grades be assigned on academic grounds alone.

After questions, the committee moved and the chair announced the result: the bill passed the committee by a recorded vote of 6 ayes and 2 nays. The committee action advances the bill to the next step in the legislative process.