The option to choose a pass/fail grade for a class has recently been implemented by Hofstra University. While it’s a good start, it isn’t doing enough for the student body. Hofstra needs to do what is right for its students and implement a mandatory, campus-wide pass/fail program for the entire Spring 2020 semester. The reasons for this are that not everyone that has gone home has a stable home life, with some students having to take care of ill parents, not having access to stable internet and not having the time to study at home due to other obligations. When applying to graduate school, if a student has taken a pre-requisite class as a pass or fail class instead, then the graduate school may not accept that class. An example being New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) not accepting classes that were taken pass/fail, unless the university had a mandatory pass/fail semester.
Students that were forced to go back to their complicated home lives have lost the luxury of school being their only commitment. Now they may have to split their attention between their academics and their sick parents, being forced to decide whether studying is more important than helping their dad and taking him to the doctor’s office. Other students don’t have the bare necessities to take online classes, lacking access to things such as access to the internet and Wi-Fi. On top of that some professors require a webcam, which while available on many modern laptops, are not always available on desktops. If one lacks a webcam, they may be forced to drop the class altogether. In a normal situation, they would have access to Wi-Fi in places such as libraries or cafes, but because of COVID-19 places like these are closed, making it even more difficult to access public Wi-Fi if the student lacks it at home.
Students that do take their classes pass/fail this semester may find themselves unable to apply to graduate school after they finish their undergraduate degree. Many graduate schools are currently not accepting prerequisite classes taken pass/fail unless the university mandates the whole semester become pass/fail for the entire student body. If Hofstra does not make the semester mandatory pass/fail, they are leaving many of their students out to dry. With some students in their last semester of college and finishing up their prerequisites for graduate school now finding themselves in an environment where they cannot give all their attention to their studies may have to take their class as a pass/fail so to not lower their GPA. However, if they find out the pre-requisite class they took as pass/fail does not count towards the graduate school that they are applying to, the effects could be detrimental. NYITCOM is one such example, being so close to Hofstra University and having a medical school of its own. It is a popular choice for not just graduating pre-medical students from Hofstra, but around the nation. If one decides to take their pre-medical classes as pass/fail and did not look at NYITCOM’s policy for their D.O. program, they would have to retake the class at a later point in time and reapply to NYITCOM again, a lengthy and expensive process.
The decision to boil down an entire semester’s worth of classes to pass/fail is not a simple one; many students have worked hard to boost their GPA, to look more desirable for post-graduate opportunities and to see their hard work be rewarded. Changing the Spring 2020 semester to pass/fail may make some students feel that they have been cheated out of their hard work and are not getting the grade they deserve, but by not making the semester mandatory pass/fail, Hofstra is turning its back on its countless students that don’t have the luxury to continue their academics as the same level back at home.
Talha Siddiqui is a junior sociology major and a Multimedia Editor for The Chronicle.
