On May 15th, the college put out an announcement stating: "For many student focused reasons Pass/Fail is an option we will not pursue." A vague statement, but not certainly not "student-focused." A student-focused approach would be to allow students to take a pass or fail grade--doing anything other than that would be doing a disservice to the students. 

For everyone to be struck by a pandemic, and having to be switched to distance learning, with only a withdrawal as a fall-back is absurd. Students spent too much of their time and money to just receive a withdrawal. Many students had a difficult time adjusting to online classes: whether it be that they were sick with "the disease," had limited access to the internet, had to take care of family members, had to work because many people are losing their jobs, and any other issues. Despite all of this, students were still working diligently to get good grades and pass their classes.

Teachers were asking for the pass/fail option. Teachers, the authority figures who teach the class. For them to ask for a pass/fail option, it should be obvious that it is dearly needed. Nobody wants to work really hard, just to have nothing to show for.