On Tuesday, March 24, the Student Association Senate passed a resolution to give students the option to opt-out of the traditional letter grade and instead receive a pass or fail mark.

The resolution, “RES 55.07: The COVID-19 Spring 2020 Student Academic Relief Act,” was written by the former SA president Omar van Reenen, who served from 2018 to 2019, and submitted to the Senate by Sen. Anna Constantini. When presenting his bill to the Senate, van Reenen urged senators to think of the “most vulnerable students” before deciding how they would vote. According to van Reenen, he wrote the resolution after students expressed their various concerns about the academic repercussions the recent changes may carry to him.

“It’s important to remember that Oswego’s mission statement is to create a campus that produces an environment that is not only diverse but inclusive for all,” van Reenen said. “We need to look at what this inclusivity means for us and Oswego.”

van Reenen brought up multiple ways distance learning might not be inclusive to all students. He discussed the economic hardships the COVID-19 pandemic could bring to students, as well as worsened mental health states. Even though Oswego State is trying to provide certain services to students from a distance, he brought up how some students could still be not getting all that they need to succeed due to many reasons, such as food or housing insecurities.

Other aspects of the original resolution included students having the option to decide whether or not they will opt for a pass or fail grade up to seven days after finals week, passing grades counting toward all requirements, no limit being put on the number of pass or fail classes, removing the 2.0 GPA requirement for pass or fail applications, all grades D- and above considered passing, all undergraduate students will be able to switch to pass or fail and students should consult advisors before switching to pass or fail grades.

Sen. Asheem Calixte brought up a point of debate on behalf of the professors at Oswego State.

“I feel like that’s taking the decisions out of professors’ hands, and that’s giving students the opportunity to cheat a little bit,” Calixte said. “If I know I could take this course on a pass, fail basis at the end of the semester, why would I put in any effort now?”

However, other senators took the opposing stance when debating the bill. Many senators told personal stories during the meeting, about parents losing jobs and them needing to work, and therefore, being unable to put as much effort into school as possible, or returning to their home countries and struggling to find reliable internet and having the disadvantage of being in a different time zone. Some brought up new points to add to the resolution.

“With classes that we have to be inside the class with the video chat, I think that’s unfair to students as well that don’t have good services. I think that was a good point that should be added to the bill,” Sen. Abisola Akinfenwa said.

The senators continued to debate the resolution, seemingly divided on the issue. Calixte brought up how people have gotten degrees online before, so it is not impossible.

“Online classes are not something new,” he said. “We all should have been prepared, and this is not the time for us to take shortcuts in our grading format.”

Other senators combatted this point by saying students who did not originally sign up for online classes should not be expected to make this transition quickly and effortlessly. As well, students would not be forced to switch grades to pass or fail. Those who want letter grades would still be able to receive them.

The senate discussed and amended, multiple times, the date by which students would have to request their grades be switched to pass or fail, before ultimately deciding on May 29, 2020.

The resolution passed as well, with 17 senators voting for the resolution, 1 opposing, and 1 abstaining. The resolution is now being passed to Faculty Assembly, which will discuss the resolution on Friday.

The bill lists a number of requests, including that a pass/fail grading option for every class be extended to every undergraduate student, the elimination of academic probation, warnings or suspensions, the suspension of the $20 course withdrawal fee and to consider all grades of at or above a D- as passing.

The bill now passes to Faculty Assembly, where it will be deliberated on by professors and administrators.

“It is up to the Faculty Association to answer the call of the students, or to deliberate and make a different recommendation,” said Omar van Reenen, former SA president and author of the bill.

After Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the entire SUNY system would be moving to online-only classes on March 11, individual campuses across the system have been working out plans to continue their classes in a digital format.

A major concern for this move is the effect it will have on student’s academic performance, especially disadvantaged students without reliable access to a computer and an internet connection.

“With all resolutions that I’ve written, it’s always because of student concerns,” van Reenen said. “I saw that there were a large number of students concerned with the pass/fail option, specifically there was a petition going around that was asking for that option.”

The Faculty Assembly met digitally on Monday and discussed the extension of pass/fail options to all students. The Academic Policies Council will be discussing it at their next meeting.

Some concerns raised by faculty members at the Faculty Association meeting were that the decision to alter academic standards for this semester would raise further questions about how students currently on academic probation would fare, as they would potentially lose the opportunity to end their probation this semester.

Other concerns include how a universal pass/fail option would interact with current academic requirements to maintain a 2.0 GPA in all courses required specifically by a student major, and what affects the change would have on the college’s accreditation for certain programs.

van Reenen said that while he understands that accreditation and academic standards must be upheld, considerations must also be made for the novelty of the situation today.

“It is important for us to remember that these are unprecedented times, and students across the board are experiencing hardship, not just academically but economically and in terms of mental health,” van Reenen said.

He also said that the measures requested by this bill do not go as far as some other student governments have gone, with some assemblies or individual students requesting a universal passing grade for all students for the semester.

“It’s about giving students that option that they can take, and I don’t believe it will discourage them from working hard in their classes,” van Reenen said.