Hi everyone,

I want to begin by thanking you all for your support. I did not expect this petition to break a thousand signatories; you crushed it. I'm proud to belong to an active, thriving, and vocal student community.

As I'm sure many of you have seen, Carleton's Senate passed a motion this afternoon extending to students the option of choosing a SAT rather than an alphanumeric grade for transcript purposes. This was the petition's original goal; this is why I am declaring victory.

I feel, as I'm sure many of you do, torn; while this is a step in the right direction, Carleton has not gone as far in extending students flexible choices as some other schools and faculties. I know from speaking with those of you who have elected to reach out to me personally that these measures are not comprehensive and, for many of you, insufficient. Consequently, I am calling on Carleton to consider making final exams optional for all students. This is a measure which, notably, was adopted by UOttawa's Faculty of Social Science (https://i.redd.it/b7h5opzm4fo41.jpg ) and is supported by an open letter authored by the University of Guelph's faculty (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zNeW427bKc5HNKRxbrEFiv7sl48dWr5r-cXQnZlZS4s/edit Optional pass/fail grading is a very solid first step - but the University must push ahead if it wishes to alleviate the inequities which inspired this petition in the first place. If you agree, I implore you to direct your concerns to provost@carleton.ca and vpstudents@carleton.ca. This is only over if you want it to be.

This will be the petition's final update. Again, I am grateful for the support both the petition and I, personally, have received. Be safe out there!

Yours, Charlie