This petition will give students the OPTION of choosing between pass/fail or regular grading for each class they take, not force all students to use the pass/ fail grading system! This is simply meant to help students retain their GPA in case their grades fall due to Corona virus-related reasons or changes from classes moving online.

On March 18, 2020, faced with the national spread of COVID-19, The University of Tulsa (TU) decided not to return to in-person classes for the Spring 2020 semester. As students, we understand how difficult the decision was to make and we appreciate all of the care taken in making the decision and transitioning into online coursework.
This sudden change has left students feeling concerned about the emotional and academic consequences of suspending in-person activities. We are reaching out to request that TU change their grading policy to help alleviate these concerns.
On March 16, 2020, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), announced that they would be transitioning to an alternate grading policy. Per the new policy, once students receive letter grades for the semester, students then have up to 7 days to request a transition for any course to pass/fail grading. Due to the circumstances, there is no limit to the number of courses that can be adjusted to pass/fail grading, passing grades will count toward degree requirements, and D grades will convert to a passing grade. We hope that the steps taken by another well-respected university will inspire TU to consider enacting a similar policy adjustment in order to fully support its students.
Transitioning to optional pass/fail emergency grading would help reduce student stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. TU’s emergency policies impact all students, but even more so the part of the student body that is international and out of state. With the suspension of in-person activities, usual available stress-coping mechanisms, student organizations, tutoring, some TA hours, in-person office hours with professors, and other now unavailable / uneasily accessible campus academic resources, many students will now be at an academic disadvantage. Additionally, as professors transition their classes online, mistakes and miscommunications are likely to occur that may be difficult to resolve.
Lastly, new online grading and instruction should not impact students’ GPAs. While online class this semester is unavoidable, we can attempt to counteract the challenges of online classes by changing grading to an optional pass/fail emergency structure. The volatility of moving online and changing due dates, assignments, and exams deeply impacts teaching and grading standards. Therefore, TU should adapt its course grading mechanisms to fit these new standards. This includes allowing all pass/fail classes (if the option is chosen by the student) to count towards the requirements for any TU degree even ABET-accredited ones. (Students have also reached out to ABET regarding making this exception in their accreditation requirements for this semester, but the university should as well.)
We believe that emergency pass/fail grading should be purely optional, as some students would like to retain letter grades on their transcripts for future education (e.g. medical school) or to raise their GPA (e.g. seniors needing to raise their GPAs to graduate).
As we all do our best to carry on with our studies while managing factors outside of our control, we’d like TU to consider amending the Spring 2020 grading policy to accommodate student needs.
*This petition was inspired by and derived from a similar and successful petition to the CMU and OU administration, as well as many other similar petitions to universities nationwide.