123 thoughts on "Faculty Senate – April 1, 2020"

1. Many underprivileged people hope to one day move up the social ladder. Especially with the current job crisis, the potential for job security in the future is especially important. With many people losing their jobs, students with external merit based scholarships are especially depending on the awards to even remain at Cornell. Furthermore, a letter grade qualifies one for entering graduate schools and jobs with good security in the future. Many hardworking underprivileged people use this notion as motivation. We cannot take away the promised opportunity to move up the social ladder. Many people do not have social connections, a prominent family name, or inherited money to depend on to secure their futures. All they can rely on is the hope that their hard work will pay off and they can fulfill their goals and dreams. Taking an opportunity for a letter grade away is like closing the door on the opportunity to create a better future.

2. I support Universal Pass, because quite frankly, I feel like a focus on grades is far from what is needed right now. Not only is it highly unfair towards disadvantaged students, but there are significant advantages and disadvantages based on the classes each student takes. Some classes are built for online learning while others are not, and that may pose great harm against students whose classes are not suited for online learning. Why should one student have an easier opportunity to raise their GPA if another does not have the same chance? Furthermore, in the midst of a pandemic, with high amounts of fear, stress, confusion, anxiety and low prospects for the future, it is difficult to concentrate on studies in general. I know this is where the optional aspect of S/U comes into play, but how can one honestly control their mental and emotional state in a time like this? Although medical and graduate programs may accept S/U even from schools with opt-in grading, would they accept taking S/U due to the mental toll the current situation has on students? I highly doubt they would see this explanation in the same light as those faced with direct consequences of the virus, such as family deaths or significant financial struggles. As such, I strongly advocate for universal S/U, a policy I feel would show the world that academic institutions can see students for more than just their grades in the present and set a precedent for the future.

3. I am writing to express my support for the Big Red Choice movement to allow an option for students to make their own decisions about what is best for them academically in these uncharted waters.

   I struggled for a long time at Cornell to find my intellectual niche, but at long last in my final semester I have found it! Despite my anxiety and mediocre academics from previous semesters, this semester I have learned so much and worked so hard in fields that I am passionate about, and I want to be able to demonstrate my academic growth and success to grad schools and employers in these fields.

   This semester has been the most engaging intellectually and potentially strongest academically. I am interested in studying programming languages, compilers, and formal verification (all classes that I am taking this semester), and I am planning on applying to graduate programs to continue to study and do research in these fields. I am extremely worried that a universal pass/fail for all students would make it extremely difficult for me to demonstrate my interest and hard work in these classes that are ESSENTIAL to applications to grad school programs and jobs that I am interested in.

4. I support Universal S/U as now is not the time to be worrying about grades. Although I can’t speak for them fully, I believe that many students (especially FGLI+) are focusing on supporting themselves and their families during this viral/economic crisis, and they deserve the freedom to do so without worrying about the long-term implications of switching from graded to S/U. Furthermore, for those students who have been given the freedom to not worry about supporting themselves and those around them due to family support and/or previous finances, this is the perfect opportunity to go and do good by applying their knowledge to real situations. Premed students can volunteer and put time into filling the essential yet non-interactive roles required within the health system so that health professionals can focus on healing, helping, and comforting. STEM students can work with organizations to grow their engineering and IT-capabilities, while business students can help overhaul organizations to better survive the current economic crisis. Humanities and Social Science students can document the current crisis so that those who come after can know of our successes and failures. This is a time to contribute to society, not worry about grades.

5. Please choose to give students a CHOICE in their grading.

6. The faculty senate made the wrong decision on Wednesday. The arguments against s/u were not logical and not based on the available evidence.

   Faculty argued that we’d cause hardships by depriving students of 1) choice & agency 2) the ability to earn grades.

   There is zero empowerment in letting students choose between grades or s/u. It is in fact insulting to offer this choice. After kicking students off campus and into a global pandemic, we “empower” them by letting them choose whether or not to seem affected by these new circumstances? Since when is “sink or swim” an empowering choice? What student doesn’t want a transcript that looks as good as it can?

   People are sick and dying. Schools are closed. 7 million people filed for unemployment last week. Unemployment is the highest it’s been since the Great Depression. We shut down the University.

   Faculty who argued about the hardships we’d create by taking away grades only demonstrated their lack of awareness of what’s going on. What they were really saying, though they may not have realized it, was, “The coronavirus crisis is not disturbing my life, and I can’t imagine it doing so. Therefore, I won’t let it affect the way I approach reality.” Student concern for grades is business as usual here. To cite that concern as a reason not to respond to the current crisis is just to ignore the crisis.

   Also, during the meeting, I pointed out that as the university is not fulfilling its usual responsibilities, not providing a campus, classrooms, etc., the usual environment where learning happens, it is not right that we should obligate students to meet their responsibilities as usual. A colleague responded to this, in the chat:
   16:26:52: Respectfully, I believe we are working extremely hard to provide
   good continuation of our courses. In my case for a lab course.

   What’s clear here is that this faculty member has not yet grasped the situation. And I think this faculty member is representative of those who opposed the mandatory s/u. Yes, we can provide good continuation of our courses—we are lucky. But we are not providing students with the resources to live and continue their engagement with the material.
   This situation is so unusual, so extreme, that really it’s not surprising it’s so difficult for faculty to grasp: it’s normal for high-powered scholars to have their heads in the clouds. As a result, a group of such faculty is not equipped to respond to a crisis.

   In this crisis, some students will be able to work just fine. Others will be taking care of young children, helping to care for the sick, sick themselves, in different time zones, with unstable internet connections, dealing with death and loss. The reason these other students will not be able to work is the same reason we shut down the university. As such, it makes no sense that we would not continue to respond to the situation in our decision about grades.

   It’s stunning what this decision signals about the faculty’s priorities. Add that to the university’s losses.

7. https://www.instagram.com/p/B-gY4h4HY3J/?igshid=1t0cgn7fw1du
   This thread explains exactly why we need universal S/U. It is a strange semester and pretending like it’s business as usual is doing every student a disservice. There are more important things than GPAs and letter grades, and having an opt-in grading system prevents us from focusing on those important things

Comments are closed.