The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly disrupted the lives of Mason students, faculty, and staff. In light of this, we call on the Graduate Council award all graduate students a two-year extension on their time-to-degree clocks.

GMU has demonstrated its commitment to faculty well-being and success by providing a one-year extension to tenure-track contracts and third-year renewals. We applaud this measure. However, we are concerned that graduate students have not been extended the same grace. Like faculty, graduate students have also had to contend with the disruptions of the pandemic--as students, to be sure, but also as instructors and researchers. Like faculty, many of us are also parents of small children, or have been asked to serve as caregivers for friends or relatives. To its credit, Mason has responded proactively to the needs of faculty during the pandemic. We ask that the same consideration be given to graduate students.

For this reason, we, the undersigned, join in solidarity with GMU graduate students and call on the Graduate Council to extend the time-to-degree limit by two years for graduate students.