The Fall 2020 semester saw students faced with less-than-ideal living situations, financial struggles, and more extenuating circumstances than we can count. Here are some ways our professors have shown compassion and understanding in these stressful times.

As we wrap up the Fall 2020 semester, I’ve been trying to focus on the positive and pay attention to the ways people have demonstrated understanding in these unprecedented times. Here are some acts of kindness that Bwoggers are thankful for this holiday season:

• Reminded us to take care of ourselves
• Made the final exam only count if it improves our grade and dropping it if it doesn’t
• Not giving me a zero on a midterm worth 25% of our grade that I forgot was happening and didn’t do until 3 days later, when I remembered about it, did it in a panic, and emailed the professor frantically
• Gave us 15 minutes at the beginning of class to breathe and rest the day after the election.
• Made the midterm and final open-book, open-note, and open-internet
• Starting classes by sharing that they hope we’re coping well
• Changing a 10-page book review final paper to a 3-page paper on any topic related to the class
• Dropped our four lowest quiz grades
• Established a system of opt-in grading, in which you get 100% on any assignment you complete
• Gave me an extension a day before the due date of an assignment
• Let me resubmit a midterm that I accidentally submitted in the wrong format and didn’t mark me down for it
• Dropped our lowest exam grade and doubling our highest
• Did not make me write a single essay for LitHum
• Gave us a free week from discussion posts right before Thanksgiving
• Gave me an A- on what was clearly no better than a C paper – literally the worst paper I have ever written ever, since middle school probably, and announcing to the class that everyone’s paper grades were very very very generous due to ~current circumstances~
• Cut the reading due for class in half every week
• Gave an extension to the whole class
• Replacing what was going to be a 3000+ word paper with a completion credit outline worth 15% of our grade (did I already do most of that paper when this was announced? Yes. Did my soul die? Yes…But it was worth it for the compassion of it all)
• Offered to do a Zoom Thanksgiving with us if we were lonely and needed to spend Thanksgiving with a familiar face
• Made every assignment aside from the final paper optional
• Created an incredibly generous late policy – as long as you hand in the assignment at some point you will get credit
• Didn’t mark me absent on a day I had technical difficulties and couldn’t access the Zoom
• Got rid of midterms and finals altogether and let us write short essays on any topic related to the class
• Asked us to write our mood on our assignments and then reached out to either make sure we had a good day or congratulate us on having a good day

Bwog loves wholesome professors! Thank you to these professors for being too cool for school, and good luck to everyone coming up on the finish line for Fall 2020!

Thank you image via Pickpik