In response to the suspension of in person classes for the remainder of the 2019-2020 academic year, the Saint John’s Senate and College of Saint Benedict Student Senate are advocating for each Spring 2020 course, regardless of the area of study, to be graded either with a letter grade or ‘S/U’(satisfactory or unsatisfactory), at the discretion of each individual student for their respective courses.  With the adoption of such a system that will give students the option to choose the method of their evaluation, we would then expect students to be given a date by which they would have to communicate with their professors expressing the option of evaluation they would prefer for the given course.

Reasoning behind this petition:

- The quality of instruction, and with that, the quality of student performance, that will come as a result of online class will undoubtedly fail to match the expectations that were in place with in person, intimate class settings.

- Many students will be returning home where conditions and limited resources may hinder their ability to perform as well as they would’ve on campus. 

- With the World facing a Pandemic with daily evolving consequences, all students, faculty, and staff are susceptible to physical and mental health conditions that may ultimately undermine the quality of the scholarship.

- Academic leaders and institutions all across the Nation have already recognized the implications of the suspension of in person courses and have adopted the pass fail system, it would be both strategic and sagacious for our schools to follow suit and abandon aspirations of rigor and normality.

We implore you to take these things into consideration and allow for such a system. Allowing students the option to take a letter grade or ‘S/U’ grade will make a tremendous difference for many students’ GPA, that would otherwise be negatively affected by a failure to recognize the uniqueness of this situation and the unconventional responses that it is calling for.