Columbia, Barnard Students Beg For Grading Shift Amid Coronavirus

UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN — Thousands of Columbia University and Barnard College students are asking school administrators to change their grading policies since the coronavirus crisis forced them to leave campus and shift to online learning.

A petition calling for school officials to allow a pass/fail option instead of letter grades had gained more than 4,200 signatures on Thursday from students who say they're struggling to maintain normalcy after fear of the coronavirus spreading closed their campus earlier this month and forced all classes online.

The shift to virtual classes left many students with just hours to pack up and head home — some to houses without internet, in vastly different time zones or to deal with caring for sick loved ones and worsening financial strains of the pandemic.

The varied difficulties, not to mention a separation from in-person campus resources, mean that students are either physically unable or unfocused on maintaining grades in their classes, the students said.

"Many students are faced with disparate, disadvantageous situations at home that make it impossible to grade on an equitable basis," students wrote in an op-ed in the school's newspaper. "...These issues are just a fraction of those currently faced by many students. A comprehensive pass/fail policy would significantly ease these students' transition into remote learning."

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Columbia and Barnard's shift to online classes began March 8, when the schools closed for two days after a school member was exposed to the coronavirus.

Students were then told on March 12 that in-person classes would be canceled for the rest of the semester and that they had until March 17, for Columbia, and March 30, for Barnard, to leave campus.

"In just two weeks, our University life completely changed," the students wrote.

The students told school officials that students and professors should decide on a class-by-class basis whether they want to shift to pass/fail grading system, meaning those who need letter grades for scholarships graduate schools or post-graduate plans could still be traditionally graded.

At least 10 other colleges and universities, including Smith College, Carnegie Melon and Boston College, have allowed student to shift to the pass/fail model as of Thursday, Columbia and Barnard students said.

The petition had been distributed to all Columbia and Barnard administration, registers, departments and professors, according to the students.

"We hope that the University enacts this change to the benefit of the entire student community and allows students to pass/fail courses for credit without any penalty," they wrote.