On July 22nd, Northwestern University announced that grading policies for undergraduate courses would return to letter grading for the upcoming academic year. This is yet another callous act taken by the administration that shows zero regard for international students, students from low-income families, BIPOC students, and students with special needs (e.g. mental health or learning disabilities). We demand that the grading policy be changed to letter grade optional with no penalty for those who choose to take classes pass/fail. A letter grading policy disadvantages many of our students in the following ways:

1.  International students. International students comprise 9% of the student body and come from all over the world. This policy is unjust for them. A letter grade policy will severely limit the courses these students may select due to time zone realities. How do you receive a stellar grade and fully participate in a class when it meets at 10 or 11 pm your time?  Students living in the United States (and perhaps optimally in Chicago’s time zone)  will clearly be at an advantage. Taking and passing classes from around the globe is an entirely different proposition than doing so while worrying about (and struggling to) get an “A”.    

2.  BIPOC students. This pandemic has hit the BIPOC community the hardest. Indeed, the Brookings Institute reported in June that the “age-adjusted” COVID-19 death rate for Black people in America is 3.6 times and for Latino people in America is 2.5 times the death rate for whites.  They also reported that while data for Native Americans was incomplete, this community is also suffering from starkly inequitable COVID-19 outcomes.  While younger people have shown greater resiliency against the virus, this does obviate the fact that BIPOC students are more likely to be personally and painfully affected by the fallout of this epidemic as their families, friends, and communities suffer. 

3.  Students from low-income families. Many of the university’s low-income students and their families have been placed in a financially difficult situation due to the pandemic. While Northwestern has given students the option to return to campus, the reality is that this will not be an option for low-income students who do not have the means to do so.  It is questionable at best as to whether these students will have the infrastructure (housing situations, IT access, etc.) to successfully and fully participate in classes remotely and to do so at a level that allows them to put their best foot forward.  Further, as with BIPOC students (who form at least some part of this cohort), students from low-income families may similarly be more likely to be personally and painfully affected by the pandemic’s fallout.  A London School of Economics US Centre article recently reported that US states with the greatest income inequalities are more likely to see more COVID-19 cases and to suffer more COVID-19 deaths. While there are students who won’t be able to return due to financial issues, there are still many who will just barely be able to make ends meet and without having to pay for housing, they can make it work. However, the students on campus will have better access to resources (professors, tutors, other students, mental health resources, etc.). Students who are able to afford to return to campus will have a clear advantage over those who cannot afford it.

4.  Students with Special Needs.  Students with learning disabilities, mental health needs, or who face other particular medical challenges clearly depend on the many resources that Northwestern provides to allow them to be successful during their time on campus.  These include professions, tutors, mental health resources – and OTHER STUDENTS.  Whether a student with special needs returns to campus or participates remotely, it is clear that the support system(s) such students have carefully built will be negatively impacted and may not work as effectively to allow these students to manage the challenges they face. 
 

The students outlined above are the very same students who add the inestimably valuable “diversity” that helps to make Northwestern one of the world’s leading universities and that serve to make our Northwestern community such a vibrant one – indeed, we students continue to hold our Northwestern “family” close to our hearts long after they leave the university.  However, policies like the proposed reinstitution of grading requirements simply do not take this diversity into consideration. Northwestern students are not a MONOLITH.  Decisions that do not serve the best interests of ALL NORTHWESTERN STUDENTS or that inequitably and negatively impact a large number of students MUST BE CHANGED!  

We are all trying to find our way through these unprecedented times and should be supported by the university at an individualized level because that’s why we came here and what we are paying for! This monolithic approach to returning to campus is predated on assumptions that all of our situations are the same. It inherently creates an uneven playing field where those who are in better home situations and have access to a more flexible schedule have a better chance of achieving better grades. We’re all in different situations with different challenges, and Northwestern’s administration should be more mindful of that and have better flexibility built into the fall 2020 grading policy.