In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Asbury University opted to shift to online instruction in order to allow social distance between people so as not to promote the further spread of disease. This was a hard but necessary decision for the administration to make, and I'm sure the student body appreciates the prudence exercised by the administrative team in the face of crisis. 

However, an online mode of instruction is fundamentally different from a traditional classroom setting. Student performance aside, many professors are not yet equipped to handle such a transition. Higher-level courses that require close collaborative work between instructors and students will be especially affected. This change in instructional style will have a negative impact on student grades, especially for students who normally require structure and additional support in their academic pursuits. 

Additionally, students who are forced to move to different time zones, different countries, or even different continents because of this crisis will be negatively affected by this transition. Proper instruction and help from professors will become even less accessible to these students.

Given all these issues resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, a pass/fail system of student assessment (which has already been implemented at schools like MIT, UPenn, Dartmouth, and Baylor) is something that should be seriously considered by our school administration. Please support this petition!