A historic pandemic is sweeping our community. This is an immensely  stressful time for students. Students and staff have not only their own well-being to look after, but also their families. Teaching and learning this semester through online means will not be easy and will add more stress into our hectic lives. 

A large amount of students work part-time service jobs either putting us close to the mayhem or living without any salary at all. We must put our energy into maintaining a place to live, feeding ourselves and our families, and other basic human needs. In this situation, doing assignments and extending ourselves to get the highest grade possible is not a priority. Our family’s survival and our own mental and physical health must come before all else. 

California State University San Marcos should allow all active students to pass their Spring 2020 semester using the pass/fail system. This means that if you do the work, then you pass and gain the credit. This would allow us to continue our education without letting this stressful time affect our GPA. The added stress is due to events that are outside of our control. This is not the students giving up. This will allow students to focus on surviving in these drastic times.  The university can even mark students transcripts this semester so that employers and also those applying for higher levels of education can understand that students were facing extraordinary circumstances at this point in their academic career. The students of CSUSM can return in their next semester ready to learn and succeed without any residual stress.