On Thursday, May 14, St. Thomas elected to extend the S-D-R grade mode election deadline from May 1 to June 3.

Earlier this semester, the university imposed the S-D-R grading system, where S stands for satisfactory performance, D is equivalent to a D letter grade, and R is unsatisfactory, or failing.

“When Provost Plumb announced before spring break that all undergraduate courses would be converted to COVID S‑D‑R grading, our academic leadership set a deadline of May 1, 2020, for students to make grade mode elections,” Vice Provost of Academic Affairs Wendy Wyatt and Registrar and Associate Vice President for Enterprise Data Karen Julian wrote in an email. “At that time, we did not know we would remain online for the entire semester, nor did anyone fully anticipate the impact and continued disruption in our lives.”

Senior Olivia Checkalski created a petition Monday, May 11, asking for that extension, receiving more than 1,000 signatures since it was posted.

Checkalski said she got the idea after seeing a petition made by a University of Minnesota student.That petition successfully received enough signatures to move the university’s grade decision date from April 30 to May 22.

“I had figured that it would start as something to see if other students were in the same boat,” Checkalski said. “If it was really such a big issue to consider changing it, I figured that must be because other students were asking as well.”

While the petition isn’t the only reason St. Thomas extended the S-D-R grading period, Wendy Wyatt, the vice provost of academic affairs, said the voices of the students were heard when making the decision to extend the deadline.

“We were talking about the initial policy before the petition was formed, and the student feedback is important to us, but it certainly isn’t the only consideration,” Wyatt said.

Checkalski’s original goal was 500 signatures, but she reached a much higher goal than that.

“I figured that if it ended up not being successful I would maybe not move forward with it, but I hit my goal within the first 15 hours or so of starting it, so I definitely was urged to move forward,” Checkalski said.

Morganne Degroot, a senior at St. Thomas, signed the petition.

“Students are thinking of a lot of things right now than just grades, and as much as a lot of us wish that were a top priority, unfortunately that’s not exactly what’s happening in the present world we’re living in,” Degroot said.

Checkalski hopes that the extension will give St. Thomas students the time they need to come to a final decision about their grades.

“I think this is going to put a lot of students into a much better position to make an informed decision about their grades,” Checkalski said.

Leila Weah can be reached at weah7721@stthomas.edu.