I am calling for there to be a Pass/No Pass (PNP) grading option for the 2020 fall UC Santa Barbara quarter and all future quarters administrated remotely due to covid 19. 

Fall 2020 should be PNP flexible--i.e. students should be able to choose between a PNP grade option, or a letter grade for all classes and major requirements.   

Here are several justifications: 

1. Since spring 2020, the COVID 19 outbreak has grown to be widespread and trends indicate that cases will continue to rise. The governor has issued a state-wide curfew and stay at home order with 40 California counties in the purple-tier. The challenges faced by students in Spring warranted a flexible grading option. These challenges remain unchanged today, and have been amplified by ongoing financial, health, and mental hardship. Students in fall 2020 are still struggling to find spaces in their homes to work, dealing with financial and health crises, facing death of loved ones, and homeschooling their own children or siblings. Conditions have not changed since the spring quarter and current conditions require a P/NP grading accommodation. 

2. The degree to which a student is successful in a remotely administered course can no longer be adequately represented in a letter grade because the challenges posed by remote learning affect students disproportionately. Courses taught remotely are expected to maintain the same material and rigor as before campus displacement. Success in online classes is dependent on access to internet connection, a computer with a working webcam and microphone, and a study space.  The degree to which professors are able to administer online courses successfully is similarly disproportionate and depends on the nature of the course. Successful remote administration is especially challenging for courses with a high degree of hands-on aspects such as labs, fieldwork, or collaborative requirements.  

3. A P/NP grading option protects minorities and low income students who are suffering from the widespread, disproportionate impacts of current crises. UCSB students are socioeconomically diverse with 35% of undergraduate students being pell grant eligible. For students reliant on financial grants for survival, a P/NP grading option is more than just an accommodation. 

4. UC Santa Barbara remains one of only two UC campuses who have not adopted flexible grading accommodations. UCSB needs to consider other prestigious, highly academic institutions that have changed their grading policies in light of the current state. 

-A student petition at UC Berkeley led to the announcement on Nov. 5 that the College of Letters and Science will allow their students to use courses taken as P/NP for major/minor requirements, major prerequisites, and college-level course requirements for Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters. The Associated Students of the University of California of Academic Affairs also stated that they will be working to implement P/NP policies with other UCB colleges.

-All other UCs have changed their grading policies except UCSD and UCSB. 

- Stanford: Revised grading for the ENTIRE 2020-2021 academic year

- Georgetown: Satisfactory/Not Satisfactory for Fall 2020. The choice to take a class S/CR/NC can apply to any course: Core, major, minor, certificate or free elective.

- Johns Hopkins: Business School: We will continue letter grades with an option to change to a pass/fail system for Fall 2020, School of Arts/Sciences: The default grading system will be S** (satisfactory) or U** (unsatisfactory) grades

These are only a handful of the universities making accommodations for students. It is morally irresponsible to maintain a normal grading policy amidst a global crisis. 

Those opposed to this petition, please reconsider and think how you and the Santa Barbara community have been affected by COVID-19. Each student at UCSB now faces a unique learning situation due to campus displacement. For some students, academic success is dependent on access to campus resources. 

In response to covid-19, the university has transformed academic administration in all areas except grading policy. UCSB should therefore implement a P/NP grading accommodation in all remote courses including major requirements for the fall 2020 quarter and all future quarters administered remotely. 

 

 

The framework for this petition comes from a petition statement by Kaden Kim. After receiving 7,099 signatures, a P/NP grading accommodation was implemented at UC Berkeley.