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Posted: March 27, 2020
This email is sent on behalf of Maureen Mancuso, Interim Provost and Vice-President: Academic
To the students of Wilfrid Laurier University:
Your academic success is always our highest priority. During this extraordinary time, we have balanced that goal with the necessity of keeping you, your families, and the community at large as safe as possible from the threat that the COVID-19 pandemic represents. In response to that threat, the university has moved quickly to develop solutions that protect public health while giving you the best available opportunity to complete the term with your academic record intact.
We understand that the situation you now find yourselves in is unexpected and unpredictable, and that some of you face significant challenges that impact your ability to complete the term remotely with the level of attention and focus you would normally bring to bear. We want to provide you with as many options as possible to support your health, well-being, and academic continuity.
The university has therefore decided to offer undergraduate and graduate students the option to convert final winter 2020 course letter grades to either a “credit” or “withdraw” format, without requiring a petition.
We ask that you consider your decision carefully and contact your academic advisor or graduate coordinator to discuss the implications of your choice.
I acknowledge that this option represents yet another change to the process by which we try to bring this unique term to an orderly and appropriate conclusion. I hope you can appreciate that as the situation continues to evolve day by day, associate deans, faculty, and advisors have been doing their best to provide guidance based on information available to them at the time.
Once your instructors have submitted your grades, you will be able to view your grades in LORIS. If your grade is passing, you will be given a time-limited opportunity to have the grade noted on your transcript as ‘CR’ (credit) rather than a letter grade.
Regardless of your grade, you may alternatively choose to record your grade as ‘WD’ (withdrawn), which would mean that you receive no credit for the course, and you would need to make this up in a future term.
If you choose to note your grade as either CR or WD, the CR/WD grade will be recorded permanently on your transcript. This option will be operationalized only for the winter 2020 semester. The letter grade assigned by your instructor will be stored in your internal student record, and could be retrieved at your request to provide to other postsecondary institutions if required.
We encourage you to try your best as you complete outstanding work for the term and undertake your exams. Staying focused on your goals even as the world tries its best to distract you is a skill that is valuable in every imaginable future. But if those distractions have become overwhelming, we hope that this grade option and the extension to progression requirements (see below) provide you with the support you need during this exceptional time.
Wilfrid Laurier University continues to closely monitor the coronavirus (COVID‑19) situation.
For the latest updates, visit our coronavirus information page.
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