With the quick change to in-person classes and the ongoing stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UCLA Psychology Department should give the option to students to change the grading system of this fall quarter to pass/ no pass and still count these p/np classes as meeting major requirements. 

Students are still fearful of contracting the virus as testing is not required for all students. Many students are required to attend class despite this fear. As a result, it has taken a toll on students' mental and physical health; they are worried about sharing facilities, scared to participate in in-person group projects, develop imposter syndrome, and feel isolated from the rest of the UCLA community as they lost valuable college time (especially sophomores and juniors). Students are unable to focus on their studies and it is unreasonable to expect a smooth transition back to a “normal” grading system after such a lengthy period of isolation. The pandemic is still very much alive and its aftershocks are even scarier: talk of booster shots, America leading the world in coronavirus deaths, anti-vaxxer protests, distance from family, pre-developed isolation habits, and worry for not only oneself but for loved ones. With these added stressors, it is unreasonable to maintain the same expectations as pre-covid times. 

Other departments such as Human Biology and Society and Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics have all understood the struggles and challenges of being a student in the pandemic and continued to allow P/NP through this fall quarter. Although it is an external circumstance, the UCLA Psychology Department needs to take action and consider the well-being and voices of its students in these trying times.