Dear Principal and Vice-Chancellor Prof Peter Mathieson,

We are writing in response to growing concern about the academic, social, mental and physical impact of COVID-19. We know you are likely receiving hundreds of emails at this moment, but we urge you to read this plea in full. We have encouraged our peers to send you the same text to ensure that you see this. We have also circulated this as an open letter for all students to sign.

We, as fourth-year students, are at a total and complete loss. Our anxiety festers as we await any concrete information about our academic status. We thus want you to know the full extent that this virus has and will have on our lives in particular.

Across the University, the lives of final year students are being torn in half. The long-awaited culmination of our studies has been ripped from under us. The promise of goodbyes, hugs and joyous libations no longer exists. Everything we have grown to love over the past 4 years - our subjects, our friends, our partners, our teachers, our city - are gone from reach. For most of us, it is ill-advised and too dangerous to travel, and some of us are banned from going home entirely. We sit, isolated in our flats, terrified of our futures, terrified of this virus and terrified to be alone. We are left unsupported, disconnected, confused and unprepared for what’s to come.

We know it may be a challenge to implement emergency policies, but this is what you must do. This is an extraordinary situation, and it calls for extraordinary solutions. We are therefore imploring you to make final exams and essays optional for students - students should be able to choose to take their mark ‘as is’ or complete an exam/essay if they are able/want to improve their mark. This is based on the following facts:

1. Due to strikes, we will only have 6 weeks of taught classes, 2 of which will be online. We are missing half of the entire semester.
   Across campus, many buildings have been or are soon to be closed due to the virus. 
2. The occupation has closed access to CMB, a critical building for 4th-year students in SPS degrees, even if the rest of the University is still open.
3. As material in 4th year is incredibly challenging, tutorials, seminars and in-person contact hours are VITAL to understanding our material.
4. Further, personal engagement is essential to most people with learning difficulties.
5. With only 6 weeks of taught material, we are unable to write engaged and informed essays. We have barely any material eligible for examination.
6. Our midterm assessments will not be marked before our exams and final essay deadlines. This feedback is critical to good performance in final assessments.
7. Even if the Library remains open, it is a dangerous place to be for immunocompromised people. It is also difficult to be on campus or in the library with the anxiety caused by the virus. Health officials advise all people to engage in social distancing and self-isolation if sick. Going to the library is outside of that recommendation.
8. Not everyone has access to reliable internet, computers or suitable work environments at home.
9. Debilitating anxiety prevents people from doing their coursework, many people are experiencing this as their personal situations become more strenuous and uncertain.
10. Additionally, many East and Southeast Asian students have been burdened by increased racism and xenophobia in the wake of the virus.
11. Students with existing mental health issues are overburdened by the stress of the virus, lack of support and contact hours.
12. A high volume of students are dealing with family strife - unable to return home or being forced to. Travel is dangerous. The displacement caused by sudden uprooting is mentally and physically draining.
13. In lieu of full cancellations, some students’ degrees are dependent upon examinations - including many STEM students. However, keep in mind that not everyone has a reliable internet connection or access to a home computer, they should have the option to take their mark as is.  
14. Mature students and carers have additional responsibilities that impact their ability to complete their work. 
15. Other Universities like UCLA have implemented similar policies. 

We do not believe that dissertations should be cancelled, as it is a continuation of the studies we have been doing since last semester and is a meaningful part of our degrees.  We do believe that amendments must be made, based on the following facts:

1. Students are cut off from their supervisors - students should receive revised and extended deadlines for dissertation submission.
2. Students whose dissertations rely on access to physical resources - labs, testing equipment, software and books - should receive further leniency, amendments and extensions.
3. Further guidelines should be provided on how to write project reports for students undergoing research projects who have only been able to acquire half as much data as they should have.
4. ECA students have no access to vital workshops, printers, practise rooms and software required to complete the degree. Some of them have bought materials for equipment which can no longer be used. 

As a final plea, we urge you to consider the financial implications the strikes coupled by this virus has on your students. We ask that you consider refunding each student the equivalent amount of at least 4 weeks tuition (£3,036.37 for international students), based on the following facts:

1. Students forced to return home and repatriate are incurring even higher costs.
2. We were not taught for 5 weeks straight and endured strikes last semester and in fall of 2019 as well. 
3. We did not enroll at this University to take online classes.
4. Our access to resources (academic and supportive) has been denied, either explicitly through the occupation and closed schools or implicitly through anxiety due to the virus. This is also what our tuition covers.

We hope you read and fully considered this plea. The emergency of this situation demands empathetic and comprehensive action. You must consider the perspective of final year students in your decision-making process. We are torn between worlds right now, everything that was meant to be good about our final few months has now become chaos, anxiety and loneliness. We demand these necessary adjustments in order to function, stay safe and maintain our wellbeing during this time of crisis. 

Thank you for reading.