We appreciate the steps that LSE has taken in the past weeks to support the students and staff in these difficult times. Nonetheless many students are disappointed with the chosen strategy concerning summative assessments. Whilst the changes to assessments signal a “business as usual” approach, the situation is undeniably unusual. Students will not be able to work and perform on their normal level under these circumstances. Following the example of many other universities in the UK, we therefore ask LSE to introduce a “no-detriment” / “safety-net” policy for all students.

Universities that have already introduced a “no-detriment” policy:

• University College London: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/apr/ucl-ensures-no-academic-disadvantage-2020-summer-assessments
• King’s College London: 
  https://www.kcl.ac.uk/coronavirus/students/assessment#safetynet
• Imperial College London: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/about/public/Safety-Net-Policy.pdf
• University of Cambridge: https://www.cam.ac.uk/coronavirus/news/update-from-the-senior-pro-vice-chancellor-education-on-policies-for-modified-assessment
• University of Edinburgh: https://www.ed.ac.uk/news/covid-19/current-students
• University of Exeter: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/coronavirus/communications/students25march/
• University of Warwick: https://warwick.ac.uk/students/news/newsevents/summer_exams_2020_update-27-march-intermediate-final/
• Birkbeck: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/registry/policies/documents/no-detriment-policy.pdf
• Further: University of Durham, University of Liverpool, University of Southampton

Arguments for introducing the policy

Many students have been forced to leave London as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who remain are separated from their families and friends, and are often staying in cramped accommodation without access to the physical facilities provided by LSE. LSE, its students and staff highly value academic excellence. The current situation endangers the level of excellence which can and will be provided by the university to its students in the form of services and the students to the university in the form of summative assessments. Some of the circumstances cannot be compensated for. Many of the hardships are not connected to actually contracting the virus, although contracting the virus might also have strong effects on the quality of output during this academic year.

The following issues have had and will have continuous diminishing effects on the academic output of students:

1. Working environment. There is an unfair disadvantage for people with an inability to create an effective physical study space. This includes not having a quiet and personal space, having responsibilities in one’s family or community or a lack of concentration and excessive levels of stress. The concerns transcend the revision period, as a quiet and effective space is necessary for exams and writing essays too. It is impossible to quantify said hardships. Putting the burden of proof on students in this situation hardly seems to be the fair approach.
2. Academic excellence. Current and previous students at LSE have worked extremely hard and have shown a continuous level of dedication to not only secure a place at LSE but also to live up to excellent academic standards of the university. It is a matter of fairness to enable students to graduate at their level of competence, regardless of the challenging circumstances.
3. Resources. LSE has swiftly provided great alternatives to face-to-face interactions such as lectures, seminars or meetings with academic mentors. Other factors have proven more challenging to overcome. The lack of physical access to the library as a resource has only partly been covered by the online stock. Many students have experienced restrictions in the sources they could use for providing the coursework. Further, many students do not have the hardware to which they are accustomed at their disposal. For instance, students may not have a computer, a printer or a stable internet connection available at home, and with the lockdown in place, cannot use the computers or printers available in the library. 
4. Community. One of the main attractions for studying at LSE is the vibrant community on its compact and inclusive campus. The lack thereof is a severe handicap to all students.  Those short exchanges, where you meet a colleague or professor in the hallway and exchange a few sentences about your current interests and writings have been irreplaceably removed.

Our request

We would like to kindly suggest taking heed of how other institutions are approaching the obstacle of mitigating circumstances through the outbreak of the pandemic, due to COVID-19: implementing a "no-detriment" policy (i.e. as other top universities such as King’s College London, Exeter University, Warwick University,  Edinburgh University and many others have done) for summative assessments (all dissertations, essays, exams, presentations and further coursework).

This would entail that students still endeavour to work to full potential for the upcoming assessments, but that if a grade, during this period, brings their average down to a worse result (which perhaps does not accurately reflect their actual ability) it would be left out for the calculation of the final grade. Students would still be required to attain a passing grade. Assessments which increase the final average grade still count towards the final grade.

We ask LSE to introduce a “no-detriment” policy and trust that the School will implement it fairly. 

We realise that the demands of this petition are unprecedented, but we hope the leadership of LSE appreciate the extraordinary challenges students face during this time. We thank LSE staff for continuing as many services as possible. We believe that we can come out of this crisis as an even stronger community.

Media

• The Beaver (18/04/2020): https://beaveronline.co.uk/students-union-blasts-proposed-exam-guidelines-as-lse-rejects-non-detriment/
• The Beaver (09/05/2020): https://beaveronline.co.uk/editorial-lse-must-adopt-a-non-detriment-safety-net/
• The Beaver (05/04/2020): https://beaveronline.co.uk/student-concerns-lse-business-as-usual/
• The Beaver (07/04/2020): https://beaveronline.co.uk/for-some-students-online-shift-brings-inequality-into-spotlight/