Letting go of strict deadlines: Increasing flexibility to level the playing field

ABSTRACT

Some faculty feel that due dates teach professionalism and self-regulation. In line with that intent, professors administer penalties to enforce the value of completing work in a timely manner. However, the shared cultural experience of the COVID-19 pandemic found faculty and students facing a common concern, which demanded greater flexibility. Faculty were readily able to empathize with challenges students were facing at that moment. Thus, the pandemic became a time to reconsider such strict enforcement of various policies, including those surrounding due dates and late work. Certainly, prior to the pandemic, professors may have offered extensions or waived penalties on a case-by-case basis when students provided justification. This approach, while well intentioned, may disproportionately hinder students who have been historically marginalized, as these students may not think to make such requests or may worry about a professor's reaction to such requests. Rather ironically then, students with the most privilege may be more likely to request assistance but are less likely to struggle with an overload of work, family, and school obligations. Women, in particular, are more likely to receive such requests and therefore be disproportionately burdened. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)