In the recent days following many colleges' transitions from in-person to online learning, several universities have enacted a mandatory pass/fail policy to "level the playing field" among students who may not have access to academic services or who may face novel obstacles to learning while away from campus. Thankfully, Brown traditionally offers the S/NC grade option for students who want to step out of their comfort zones, are facing extenuating circumstances, or simply wish to balance their course loads to enhance their well-being. At this time, extending the S/NC deadline to accommodate the present situation would significantly ease such concerns for many students.

However, there has been a recent push by some members of the student body in favor of enacting a mandatory S/NC policy, under which students would have no option but to take all of their classes this semester pass/fail. Despite its intentions to "help" students, such a policy would be detrimental to many for a variety of reasons. While we assert that the option to change current course grade options to S/NC should be extended and that students should be able to opt-in to this policy if they so choose, we also recognize that mandating that all students complete this semester with no letter grades could significantly harm their future plans and would not necessarily provide uniform help to all those who are currently facing obstacles to learning such as financial struggles, personal or familial health, or general accessibility concerns.

The following are responses to the various arguments in favor of instituting a mandatory S/NC policy, as recently put forth by other members of the student body. We assert that there are significant considerations inherent in each supposed "benefit" of a mandatory S/NC policy which should be critically evaluated, and that simply extending the opt-in grade option change window would be a more appropriate and supportive response at this time.

• Many Brown students depend on University services such as the UFLi Center, the Writing Center, tutoring programs, CAPS, and office hours, among many other opportunities. Currently, there is no plan for these outlets to cease offering their support to students; however, the methods by which they are implemented will need to change in light of present circumstances. Instead of mandating that all courses transition fully to the S/NC option with the aim of alleviating the impact of reducing or otherwise modifying these services, the University can and should offer an S/NC extension while working to ensure that there are many different ways to access services typically offered by Brown remotely. UFLi students will likely be impacted significantly by the university's transition to online learning, and Brown should prioritize these students by increasing remote access to these services. However, it is not necessarily true that UFLi students would be positively-impacted by instituting a mandatory S/NC policy, as the opposing petition asserts.
• Though courses will have to change to accommodate an online setting, Brown has successfully offered many classes online in previous semesters. Professors are actively receiving training to use Zoom and other online platforms to best facilitate their teaching styles, and many have expressed a willingness to accommodate various situations such as students who live in different time zones or who have decreased access to online resources at home. Faculty who sincerely believe that they will not be able to fairly evaluate students as a result of their course transitioning online should be given the option to institute mandatory S/NC for their classes only. Similarly, students who find their ability to complete coursework adversely impacted by the current situation should be given the option to switch individual grade options to S/NC if they wish, or speak with their professors regarding the possibility of securing accommodations that will enable them to thrive in these circumstances. Instead of forcing all students to take all of their classes this semester pass/fail, the administration should both urge professors to be more accommodating and lenient with regard to their grading policies, and give students the ability to change their grade options at this point in the semester.
• This pandemic is not the first extenuating circumstance that has impacted the ability of many students to demonstrate their academic potential. Students who have previously experienced extenuating circumstances that adversely impacted their ability to succeed academically would be disproportionately harmed by a mandatory S/NC policy. Many students may be currently experiencing one of the first semesters in which they are receiving letter grades, or receiving grades that are truly representative of their abilities. It is not true that all students will be "equally affected" by a mandatory S/NC policy, as some will be losing out on grades that they need and will instead be judged by potential employers or postgraduate programs (many of which expect certain requirements to be met with regards to letter-based GPA) on prior semesters in which they encountered other difficulties that adversely impacted their academic performance at the time. Many students have gone through other semesters where they were...
  • Immensely ill (physically, mentally or emotionally)
  • Worried or caring for family members who were ill or otherwise disadvantaged
  • Food insecure
  • Struggling with family emergencies or loss
  • Needing to work extensive hours to support themselves or others
• All of these situations (and many others not listed here) compromise students' ability to complete coursework to the best of their abilities, and their immense negative impact may have been reflected in their prior grades. Instituting a mandatory S/NC policy at the present time, rather than uniformly benefiting all students, would likely harm many students (especially those who are close to graduating and for whom securing potential employment and/or postgraduate education is a significant concern).

In conclusion: this pandemic has already compromised the financial, physical, emotional, mental, social and familial well-being of so many individuals, and we believe that the appropriate course of action to truly benefit the greatest number of students would be to extend the grade option change deadline and permit students to make decisions which will support them best. We strongly encourage President Paxson and the rest of the University administration to consider extending the S/NC option at this point in the semester, in order to most directly and substantially support Brown students throughout the current crisis.