In an email sent out to the UT community Wednesday evening, Provost David Manderscheid announced that the Faculty Senate had voted to give students the option to use a pass/fail, or “satisfactory/no credit,” grading system for most spring 2020 courses in response to the academic challenges posed by the sudden transition to online classes amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Beginning in mid-April, the email says, students will be able to choose the courses for which they wish to receive an “S,” indicating completion, or an “N,” indicating no credit, on their academic transcript rather than a traditional letter grade.
The email also states that the deadline for dropping classes without penalty has been extended to April 22 and that all academic dismissals for the spring and summer terms have been suspended.
In the midst of what the provost termed “extraordinary circumstances,” these changes in academic policy are meant to give students more flexibility in how they want their courses to be graded and which classes will count towards their final GPA. They also come after several influential calls, both nationwide and on the UT campus, for administrators to allow a pass/fail grading option.
At the national level, notable institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Smith College have led the charge in switching to a pass/fail grading system, with numerous other universities following suit in recent days.
Closer to home, or rather to students’ homes, is an online petition for a pass/fail grading system created last week by a student under the alias of “Smokey TheDog,” which has since garnered close to 5,500 signatures.
The petition states that the transition to online classes has created problems for many students which may cause their grades to drop, from technological difficulties and disadvantages to mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression, which can result from the isolation of the coronavirus lockdown response.
Sophomore Elijah Ramsey, one of the earliest signers of the petition, wanted to see a change in the grading system because he believes that students were not given enough time to prepare for the transition to online classes.
“We go through college with our friends and then suddenly that is stripped away and we have to go home,” Ramsey said. “This is a huge emotional toll for many of us and we deserved time to adjust to this transition instead of being thrown to the wolves the Monday immediately following spring break.”
Ramsey also says that he supports the move to a pass/fail grading system because many students find online learning uniquely challenging and may not want their grades from this unprecedented semester on their permanent transcript.
“This is not what we signed up for, and it’s not the university’s fault that we are going online, but it is their responsibility to set us up with the tools to succeed,” Ramsey said. “Every student that is online this semester is at a disadvantage and we need each university to help us if we are going to find success as a whole.”
The changes to academic policy are not just a list of pros for students, however. Manderscheid was careful to remind students of the potential drawbacks to taking advantage of the new academic support, which range from a potentially less impressive resumé for graduate school applications and the loss of various financial benefits. He advised students to consult with their academic advisors before choosing to utilize any of the new academic plans.
“It’s important to remember that dropping courses and altering grading options could have unintended consequences on financial aid and veterans’ benefits as well as other implications,” Manderscheid said.
But if the thousands of students on UT’s campus alone who wanted a pass/fail grading option are any indication, there may be plenty of students across the nation who are currently sitting through online classes, filled with anxiety and willing to take the risks.
