OBERLIN, Ohio – Students at Oberlin College who skipped class and ditched their studies to protest in the streets over several recently inflamed cases of fatal shootings by police will have to live with the grades they earned.

“As of Thursday evening, over 1,300 students had signed a petition drafted by College junior Kiki Acey and other students of color demanding President Krislov suspend the standard grading system in the aftermath of the high-profile cases of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice,” the student newspaper, The Oberlin Review, reported last week.

“The petition, which was first circulated across Facebook and via email on Tuesday, calls for the College to institute a ‘no-fail mercy period’ that would eliminate all failing grades and make a C the lowest possible grade a student could receive.”

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In an email to students Sunday, Oberlin College President Marvin Krislov said he thought about the idea, consulted with his deans, and decided no.

“We are in firm agreement that suspending grading protocols is not the way to achieve our shared goal of ensuring that students have every opportunity and resource to succeed,” he wrote, according to Cleveland.com.

The students’ push for “academic leniency” would essentially condone the actions of hundreds of who opted to “die in” on the Detroit-Superior Bridge Dec. 5, or to participate in other protests in recent weeks, instead of studying for final exams that start today.

Oberlin junior Kiki Acey, who launched the petition, believes it’s not fair for students, especially black students, to be held accountable for their work with such travesty going on.

“People’s communities are being mercilessly murdered and beaten in the streets every day around the world,” Acey said in a Facebook post, according to the student newspaper.

“Others are being locked away by the millions for petty crimes. And many of us are still working every day just to be able to afford this education that fails to tell us how to free ourselves,” she said.

Oberlin suspended its standard grading policy once before, in May of 1970, in response to four student protestors who were killed by the National Guard on the Kent State University campus, and many current students don’t see why the college won’t do the same now.

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“[President Krislov] has made minimal efforts to help those of us on this campus who feel afraid for our lives,” Acey said.

“We are expect[ed] to be our best through finals? … This is not a fleeting pain. This shit will be happening two weeks from now [and] two months from now. And we do not have time to process. … I see my friends breaking because they are literally forced to choose between what they’ve been told they need and what they feel they need to do.”

The college is recommending that students consult with their professors if they are having difficulty finishing the semester.

Some professors, however, don’t seem very sympathetic to students’ “pain.”

“Though several professors have been supportive of student efforts, others answered emails asking for grading or deadline flexibility with a single ‘No,’ or ignored them,” the Review reports.

Others at the college have also spoken out against the petition.

Debra Thomas, an administrative assistant to the Office of the Comptroller, responded to an email about the petition sent through the college’s listserv that rubbed many students the wrong way.

In response to the email, which included the subject line #BlackLivesMatter, Thomas wrote “ALL lives matter.

“I don’t care if you’re black, white, yellow or green. I’m tired of this racist nonsense and tired of everyone screaming about specific cases being targeted. Blacks and Hispanics are no longer the minority. We are all HUMANS, not colors.”

Students berated the response as “post-racial bullshit,” and Thomas eventually apologized for the email.

Many readers applauded Oberlin’s decision.

“Glad Oberlin made this decision.  Lesson in common sense.  A job/test/life won’t wait for you and won’t always sync up with your timeline.  It is 100% your fault if you fail at something such as a class,” mwatty85 posted on Cleveland.com.

“Welcome to the real world. You have a commitment you made to classes, now stick to it and follow through. If I do not show up for work and do not do what is expected of me, guess what I get reprimanded and so forth,” DigDoug wrote.

“This is no different. Accept responsibility for your actions. This is the issue today, entitlement. Everyone thinks things should be their way with ZERO consequences. Wrong. Kudos to the college!!”