Black students at Oberlin College with failing grades are demanding a free pass due to the recent events surrounding Michael Brown, Eric Garner and the “Black Lives Matter” protests.
In a related report by the Inquisitr , black students at Columbia University and even Harvard Law requested an extension for semester final exams due to being “traumatized” by the grand jury rulings, riots and shootings.
A recent petition has gathered several thousand signatures already and it specifically requests that Oberlin College give failing black students a grade of “C” at the minimum.
“I would really like to see the normal grading system suspended for this semester and replaced with a no-fail mercy period. Administrators should require professors to exercise complete flexibility in what students are saying they can produce academically.
“Require that every professor listen to what their students are saying and if that means rather than writing a paper students instead meet with their professor to simply discuss in groups their paper topics or if tests are taken collectively with professors there are ways to make sure we are learning what we are supposed to be learning in ways that are not so taxing in times like this.
“Students in this moment should have complete access to alternative modes of learning while we process what’s happening. Basically, no student especially black students and students of color should be failing a class this semester. A ‘C’ should be the lowest grade students can receive this semester. Professors should be required to work with students, who would otherwise be at risk of failing, to create alternate means of accessing knowledge.”
Oberlin College president Marvin Krislov has already responded to the petition by saying that “suspending grading protocols is not the way to achieve our shared goal of ensuring that students have every opportunity and resource to succeed.”
In response, some students cite Oberlin College’s graduation of George B. Vashon, the college’s first black student 19 years before the Emancipation Proclamation. Vashon went on to become a professor at Howard University, and today’s black students believe this means they should have the ability to support the “Black Lives Matter” protests and receive a free pass.
“Imagine if you had to tell your grandkids, ‘I didn’t go out and fight for what is right because I had to go finish a chemistry final,’” said Oberlin student senator Nick Canavan, according to the WCPO .
“Class is important,” said student Megan Bautista. “At the end of the day this is not just about me—this is about advocating for black and brown bodies and the assault on them.”
Do you think black students should be given a special exception if they have failing grades due to attending the “Black Lives Matter” protests?