University of Illinois, at Chicago

—The current vulnerable situation in Illinois is demanding for a state lockdown. The governor is considering shelter in place and other severe measures required in preventing the spread of the CoVID-19.
—As of today, March 23, 2020, we have 1258 positive cases of coronavirus and 12 deaths in Illinois, unfortunately a graduate student from UIC tested positive as well. 
—In regards to the exponential growth of the CoVID-19, it is going to become challenging for us (students of UIC) to stay quite focused on our education. It is altogether impossible to face the pandemic CoVID-19 while trying to excel in all our courses in this overly stressful and apocalyptic environment.
—Therefore, We believe that all the students should be provided with a CHOICE, an option to choose either to have P/NC system or A-F scale system for spring 2020 semester.
—Even though all classes have shifted online, it’s going to be a difficult transition with whole new experience because not all types of courses can be taught through online lectures. Not all students can receive the help they need through online office hours. There are group projects, lectures, discussions and lab work that professors want us to work on. Students are dealing with a great deal of uncertainty due to the CoVID-19 pandemic, and this uncertainty extends to their academic future. As we move towards conversion to online classes, this transition is going to be challenging and many students feel that their grades will be tied to how well this new system is executed. 
—NOTE: Elite Law Schools, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Cornell University, Georgetown University, Purdue University, UC Berkeley, And finally UIUC have already implemented this system of grading, and many other universities are working on making it happen as well. 
Hence, we propose to be provided with the choices P/NC AND A-F scale system for every single course for spring 2020 semester. 

—Explanation for the optional P/NC grade system:

If you get letter grade A, B, or C, then it comes under Pass and if you get letter grade D or F then it means No Credit. Taking the P/NC won’t effect your GPA. The purpose is to ensure that the students who are going through a lot during this pandemic CoVID-19 situation, who are not able to perform at their best, are provided with the chance to replace their C with Pass grade, to protect their GPA. IT IS OPTIONAL, meaning that students can CHOOSE to reflect their acquired grade or they can choose to reflect P in their transcript for each course individually. There are many students who consider this semester to be a GPA booster, an easy one where they can secure ‘A’s, or have courses that need their letter grade to be reflected on transcript for grad school or various other reasons. Which is why we are aiming for the optional choice, so that everybody gains out of this, so that it’s a win-win. Every student gets to choose for each course either P/NC or the acquired letter grade (A-F). 

—BIG UPDATE: UIUC Has approved the optional Pass/No Credit system. 

We believe that being under the same University of Illinois system, we should be given with the same Policy Changes being provided to UIUC during the Pandemic CoVID-19. We do not ask for any more than what has been provided to UIUC in terms of Academics. 

—By signing this petition every single person agrees to every single word written and will stand along with us in facing the ordeals we’ve been placed in.