Miami-Dade College announced on March 13th, 2020 that all in-person classes would be moved online for the rest of the Spring 2020 semester. The COVID-19 Pandemic has grown exponentially in Miami and doesn't show signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Due to the uncertainty of this situation and the possible, unsafe environments of some students' homes, it is likely that their academic performance will be deeply affected. MDC's students understand and thank the College for taking our health into consideration and providing online instruction. However, we believe that the next step is to allow class the option for pass/fail or a generous curve. Reasons to adjust are listed below: 

The lack of instruction regarding the transition from in-person to online instruction is no doubt leaving many students confused about how to stay involved and engaged during this unprecedented time.

If a family member becomes sick, how will a student focus on their studies? We should be prioritizing the health and status of our community over grades at this moment.

With the many businesses closing down (bars and restaurants), student-workers are not making money; what if this was a source of income that they or their family needed desperately? 

Online instruction is incomparable to the experience and learning that one may have in the class and during in-person lectures; although many students may transition seamlessly to learning online, there will be an indisputable part of our student body that will face difficulties in focusing and/or truly understanding class material.

In general, this pandemic is having an overall negative effect on the esteem and mental health of our student body. Other universities, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have announced that they would be changing their grading policy to pass/fail as a result of COVID-19 being a significant disruption (outlined in Article 2.64 of their rules and regulations manual). Other universities have followed suit, such as Smith College. MDC is not the only academic institution calling for this transition; The University of Florida, Columbia and Barnard College are also petitioning for pass/fail as a result of the transition to online classes. 

For the reasons listed above, we ask that Miami-Dade College gives us the option to transition from letter grade to pass/fail. We recognize that letter grades are used to determine scholarship eligibility, so another option that we would propose is that transcripts with letter grades also have an asterisk (*) or some footnote that denotes this grade was received during a major interruption to in-person instruction as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even a generous curve from professors would alleviate stress from MDC students. We hope that Miami-Dade College enacts this change for the betterment of the student community in these trying and stressful times.