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Columbia College and School of General Studies students will be able to pass/D/fail one fall semester class without restriction until the end of the term and withdraw from courses till Dec. 14, according to a statement released by Columbia College Dean of Academic Affairs Lisa Hollibaugh on Nov. 18. The announcement followed a similar statement made by the School of Engineering and Applied Science earlier this week.

Despite the many drawbacks of life during COVID-19, it would seem that working from home has afforded some luxuries. Rolling out of bed, fixing breakfast, and commuting to work can all be done in one fell swoop, and we can now start our days in just five minutes. Yet, the numerous calls to reinstitute in-person classes point to the fact that we ultimately need separate work and home spaces to protect us from the greater insanity of living constantly in the same place in which we work.

Dear Class of 2020,

Among others, the University has joined Harvard Law School, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Wellesley College in instating a mandatory pass/fail grading system in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, all classes will be moved to a pass/fail grading system and classes will be canceled for the three days following spring break, according to an email from University President Lee Bollinger sent to University affiliates on March 20. Students will not be able to opt out or uncover their grades at the end of the semester.

Life as we have known it, as our peers have known it, as our parents and grandparents have known it, has changed. When we first arrived on campus this spring, five of our friends were asked to go into self-isolation for two weeks. At the time, we thought it could be an unfair practice as they had to miss class, were unable to study in the library, and had little access to supplies outside of their dorm rooms. Now we see just how wrong we were.

Undoubtedly, one of the many responsibilities of an elite academic institution like Columbia is to expose its students to a wide range of both extracurricular and academic experiences. By producing unidimensionally focused graduates, Columbia is cheating students out of the type of exposure needed to adapt to life paths that will most certainly be more diverse than those they envisioned before graduation. A philosophy of broad exposure could result in an engineering major developing a love of classics, or an art major rekindling a passion for astronomy.