This petition is set up to urge President Robert A. Brown, administration, and the whole Boston University academic community as a whole to adopt a Double-A Policy. This policy means that all students will receive an A/A- in each class for the Spring 2020 semester. Due to the inequities such as Universal Pass/Fail or Optional Pass/Fail being considered by the administration of Boston University, Double-A would be the best approach for students and the teaching faculty.

This emergency relocation to first vacate campus unless forced to stay on and then the forced removal of all students has been stressful for everyone due to the outbreak of COVID-19. This situation has thrown both students and professors into an awful position and an inadequate environment to learn and teach. Both groups are in their homes where family duties will become more important as our personal lives and lives of our loved ones are in danger. Due to this situation, our rigorous academic responsibilities are not and will not be our upmost concern.

Remote learning is already proving difficult for many students living in various times zones, especially international students as they are expected to disrupt their personal lives to attend a class online at EST time. Some students are getting up at 5 AM in the morning or late in the night past 10 PM to attend/take future exams. Additionally, the quality of learning has changed dramatically as we are paying for meaningful and quality education in person, not over the computer where the same expectations cannot be met. Remote learning will affect the mental health of students due to the difficulty of the new environment, home situations, lack of proper resources, and more.

Other universities are recognizing the impact of this global pandemic on students and professors in academia. Schools such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Northwestern, and more are seeing this and are being responsive and realistic for the benefit of everyone involved in their respective academic community.

COVID-19 is impacting academia and everything else in our lives right now. We hope that President Robert A. Brown and the administration at Boston University can implement the Double-A system. This policy would alleviate pressures that are currently being experienced by students and professors in this crisis.

FAQ regarding Double-A