On March 26th, Concordia University announced the possibility of proctored exams (a software/extension that will screen-record, use your microphone and watch you through a webcam). As of Monday, March 30th, this was confirmed in several classes despite the university urging against it. 

This is wrong. Other universities including McGill have not put this in place and it is ridiculous for Concordia to be considering this while there is the COVID-19 pandemic going on. 

Many professors cannot figure out how to use Zoom or Moodle, yet students are being expected to have high speed computers, internet, webcam access and a quiet work environment.

Even if students would like to purchase a webcam online, Amazon is currently only selling essential household items and Webcams are only available at the end of April.

While many of us struggle financially, we should not be required to endure this burden due to something out of our control. Midterms, quizzes, and assignments have been online semester to semester, why should the finals be subjected to such invasion? 

The university can find many alternatives than taking such routes (such as uploading photos of the work you did for the exam, using your smartphone). 

We should not have to waive our rights of digital privacy in order to satisfy departmental rulings. We paid our tuition in January and never agreed to such circumstances.

Concordia, its time to establish priorities. Let’s finish this difficult semester and then figure out the future. It is not the time to experiment with new security measures when such acts were not agreed upon. 

Thank you for your consideration, and we respectfully ask that you review your decision.