On March 20, 2020, Bowdoin College adopted a grading policy of Credit/No Credit (Crd/NC), with no option for letter grades as a response for remote learning guidelines during the COVID-19 crisis. The current proposal for a mandated Credit/No Credit grading system puts students at a disadvantage who could improve their GPA during the spring 2020 semester. Although the Credit/No Credit grading system is a viable option for students who have limited access to academic resources away from Bowdoin, it puts Bowdoin students at a disadvantage when other institutions are implementing this "Opt In" option of letter grading.

There is academic inequity that always exists at elite institutions like Bowdoin. A universal credit/no credit grading policy is not the best option for every low-income or otherwise disadvantaged student. Some of us have had to struggle at Bowdoin, not only this semester, but every semester due to being low-income, chronically ill, disabled, having to deal with obstacles in our familial lives, etc. We were relying on this semester’s grades to help make up for academic gaps and meet GPA thresholds for post-grad opportunities that will be otherwise inaccessible due to the administration’s chosen policy. There are students who will be further shut out from advanced post-graduate opportunities and disadvantaged if they are not allowed to choose a grading option based on their individual circumstances beyond just this semester. “One policy fits all” isn’t the answer.

Transitioning to a mandatory pass system now erases and disregards the hard work that so many students have put in up until this point in the semester. The Bowdoin offer states “to gain a standard for the appreciation of others' work.” The current decision does not enable an appreciation of the hard work students have already put in prior to this decision and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic for the past 6 weeks.

We believe that a mandatory credit/no credit system fails to account for the full scope of student needs, including the need for a full transcript during the graduate school admissions process, job search process, scholarship process, and national fellowship process. Each of these processes maintain a GPA cutoff along other considerations. Some students on financial aid will be at risk to lose funding from scholarships that require a certain GPA to be maintained. Thus, the credit/no credit policy endangers their ability to attend Bowdoin.

We believe that this mandatory credit/no credit system hurts struggling students. How does this new Spring 2020 policy accommodate students who are trying to retake or replace a grade in a failed course, or earn some required grade for admission/transfer to another program or university (nursing school, pharmacy school and med school, post-baccalaureate programs)?  Many students rely on their grades for applications to graduate schools (medical school, graduate school, law school, etc.) in the future.

The mandatory credit/no credit policy will cause many students to treat their courses without the due diligence they deserve. It lowers the standards that President Rose reminded us would continue during his first town hall. Bowdoin is an accredited private college and we hope that it will not lower its standards.

For seniors, this semester is their last chance to boost their GPAs and build strong academic profiles before graduation.

Decision committees for scholarships, prestigious fellowships, and other funding opportunities rely heavily on GPA and grades when choosing recipients of funding. Bowdoin students will be competing against students from around the world, other graduation years, and other universities. These other universities are implementing an optional grading system, and there is no guarantee that the nature of these specific credit/no credit grades will be taken into consideration.

Bowdoin stated that it hopes other universities and graduate programs will consider these circumstances. How will Bowdoin students compete with other universities and students who have decided for an opt-in policy for Spring 2020? This is not leveling the playing field, but putting Bowdoin students at a national disadvantage. Students who are facing extenuating circumstances have always had resources at their disposal: option to take an incomplete, ability to reach out to professors for help and extensions, ability to petition to drop a class, and under our suggested policy, would still have the opportunity to select a credit/no credit for their courses.

One policy fits all,” isn’t the answer. To conclude, we recognize that Bowdoin students come from diverse academic and personal backgrounds, and that each student is dealing with their own unique challenges as a result of the COVID-19 virus. It is impossible for Bowdoin to address each individual’s story, nor is Bowdoin in the position to make a statement on how seriously the mandatory credit policy will affect each student’s academic and career paths. Therefore, an optional pass policy is the most optimal policy for relieving stress and mitigating disruption for the greatest number of students, while maintaining normal class performance as closely as possible for professors. These past few weeks, Dean Lohmann and President Rose stressed that the Bowdoin ethos is one where we consider each individual case by case. This universal grading policy should be considered under the same ethos and grant students agency. Attached you will find a memo outlining scenarios by Bowdoin students of why a one size policy fits all doesn’t work.