Hello fellow students!

I want to preface by saying I know it is extremely difficult to take classes online, especially tougher courses that require some in person interaction. Kudos to you for managing your time and energy thoughtfully. 

I think that all the time and energy we put in will definitely not show in this semesters grades, just because of how thinly spread students have been due to Covid. It is for this reason that I propose that ALL Virginia Colleges and Universities that have not done so bring back the policy they had in the Spring of 2020, and allow students to choose between a Pass/Fail grade or a letter grade.

This is to encourage students to continue taking classes and not be distraught in the face of what may look bad in their transcript. Good luck to those reading, and I hope you all stay safe and healthy during these uncertain times.

This is what I've written to the administrations. Every time someone signs it should automatically notify this list of colleges. Click the link to request your college be added to the list.

• William and Mary
• University of Virginia
• Virginia Tech
• Christopher Newport University
• James Madison University
• Virginia Commonwealth University
• University of Richmond
• George Mason University
• Washington and Lee University
• Old Dominion University
• Longwood University
• Radford University
• George Washington University (DC)
• Howard University (HBCU)
• Virginia State University (HBCU)
• Norfolk State University (HBCU)
• Virginia Community College System (almost every community college in VA)

To Deans and Presidents,
I want to commend you on adapting your curriculums and policies so skillfully and quickly to the crisis at hand. That being said, there have definitely been drawbacks to going virtual, any courses requiring in person instruction have been completely sapped of all interaction and learning, and are now comprised solely by material and instruction. This is worrisome.

As such, students who are normally very hands on and engaging, are drawn away and not at all passionate about learning via a PhD sharing their screen and droning on about "factorials" or "conjugate acids". Even if you do focus, and learn the material, the amount of time you spend studying is exhaustive and causes burnout. Please consider that students are having a hard time adapting, and they need the peace of mind that comes with choosing a Pass or Fail option, rather than choosing a letter grade option, which is up in the air, and may adversely effect students GPA. I hope you appreciate the concern and take this request to heart.
Sincerely,
VA Students