The Student Association Senate passed a resolution Monday night in support of adding a first-year forgiveness policy to next year’s academic bulletin.

The senate voted unanimously in favor of allowing undergraduate students at any point during their enrollment at GW to repeat one course from their first academic year, or first semester for transfer students, in which they received a D+ or below. The policy was first proposed by SA Executive Vice President Thomas Falcigno last year and was a key part of his platform.

If the policy is adopted, the course grade on the transcript will be permanently replaced after the course is retaken and the student’s GPA would be altered to take into account the new grade, even if it is better or worse than the original grade.

Sen. Sydney Eskin, SEAS-U, who sponsored the bill, said the policy will apply to current students, not just incoming freshmen.

“This could be a phenomenal way for GW to raise its retention and graduation rates,” Eskin said.

Eskin added that the first-year forgiveness policy has unanimous support from the Faculty Senate’s education policy committee and all undergraduate deans.

Falcigno, who proposed the plan, said the policy could improve post-graduate job opportunities and encourage students to take more challenging courses or explore new areas without the fear of failing.

“This allows students to retake a course that may have been causing them a lot of stress,” Falcigno said.

Falcigno added that six of GW’s current peer institutions, including the University of California at Berkeley, and Stanford and Johns Hopkins universities, have already implemented this policy.

The policy is due to be up for a vote at next month’s Faculty Senate meeting.