We Demand that PCC: 

• Support the adoption of a default pass/no pass grading system for the Spring 2020 semester due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while preserving the option of a letter grade for those students who need a certain course to transfer or for any other reason of their choosing.
• Strongly encourage Pasadena City College to work with the Community College Chancellor’s Office, the CSU, and the UC systems to create a default pass/no pass grading system that simultaneously ensures the transferability of these courses. 
• Remove graduation, major, and academic standing requirements around pass/no pass grading. 
• Create a notation on PCC transcript to indicate that the class occurred during the COVID-19 crisis and the campus shutdown. 
• Suspend real-time attendance requirements and graded attendance. 
• Postpone the deadline for students to opt into the letter grading system for a course or courses late into the semester. 
• Urge administration to enforce all faculty members to comply with individual students’ accommodations through the DSPS program. 

     As all educational instruction at Pasadena City College has moved online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, both students and instructors are facing unique challenges in this transition. Many other institutions of higher education, such as UC Berkeley, have taken direct action to ease the burden on their students in the face of these extraordinary challenges, such as by instituting a default pass/no pass grading system for the Spring 2020 semester. 

     We are asking for Pasadena City College to implement a default Pass/No Pass grading system for the Spring 2020 semester, while preserving the option of a letter grade for those students who need a certain course to transfer or for any other reason of their choosing. We desire for there to be a default Pass/No Pass grading system for in a time of tremendous physical, emotional, and mental obstacles, it is very difficult for any student to succeed in a course and even more difficult for those students who face additional barriers as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is not reasonable to expect students to perform at their best when some are afraid for their livelihood, face increased isolation and depression, and struggle through abusive home lives. The option for the pass/no pass grading system has always existed under the Pasadena City College institution though the means are lengthy and difficult to obtain. This process must be streamlined and simplified in consideration of this pandemic. With this, we call on the Administration, Associated Students, faculty, and the Board of Trustees to support the student body and not leave students most impacted by this COVID-19 epidemic behind.