We, the students of University of Puget Sound, demand that the Credit/No Credit policy be extended to after final grades are posted. Students should be able to decide if they would like to make their grade Credit/No Credit after they know what their final grade is. Having the CR/NC deadline on Nov. 20th does not take into account how students will do in the last two weeks and during finals. Many students are heading home which could affect their performance in class. The University claims to be understanding of what students are going through in this "unprecedented time," but we feel the support that the institution is providing is inadequate given the magnitude of the current moment.

In an email sent out on Sept 25, 2020, President Crawford wrote to the campus community, "As you know, prioritizing the health and wellbeing of all members of the campus community throughout the course of the pandemic remains our highest priority." Although we know that these words were sent in good faith we do not believe that the actions the school has been taking supports these words.

We believe that a step in the right direction would be to adjust the deadline for the CR/NC option. Along with the reason outlined above, we do not think it is reasonable to punish students who are trying their best despite the circumstances. There are many things beyond COVID happening in the lives of every single UPS student right now, and we believe if the school wanted to actually support students they would move the deadline. Adjustment to a fully virtual semester along with everything going on in our country, the acts of hatred occurring at our school and natural disasters effecting members of our campus community have created an indescribable strain on the students. On top of the fact that in this ever changing and unpredictable current state, students will continue to be affected by unknown factors for the remaining month of school that they will not know about by the deadline of November 20th. We hope that you can hear this complaint with open minds as we share with the institution how we are struggling and how we truly feel.

On Nov 3rd, 2020 we received an email praising our campus for the "enthusiasm and diligence" with which we have mitigated COVID. The University stated that "TPCHD shared that it has used our college as a model for what other sites should do when running a mobile testing event." Since we are a model of COVID mitigation, we should also be a model of student support!

We understand that there will most likely be backlash from this petition but at the bottom line all we are asking for is that the University listens to student voices when creating policies that will deeply affect us.