The university no-detriment policy should be implemented for this academic year (2020/2021) due to the disastrous effect of Covid-19 on academic studies and the overall wellbeing of university students. Last academic year (2019/2020), when the pandemic hit in March 2020, the policy that ‘acts as a safety net to ensure students obtain at least their average grade so far’ was largely adopted around the UK. This was a fair and measured response to unprecedented circumstances ensuring that students gained the grade they deserved by preventing the last three months of the year from having adverse effects. This academic year is hardly unlike those last three months with studies remaining almost completely online and lockdown restrictions keeping people inside meaning that students deserve the same, if not more, protection than last year were awarded. The University of Edinburgh’s Vice-Principal, Colm Harmon, wrote, ‘It is important to me that we do not have special measures in place any longer than we need to – the University has been committed to ensuring the value of your degree is as high as ever, and the best way to do that is to make sure we have things as normal as possible.’ It is utterly misguided to say that this academic year has been taught to the same level as all other years. Crucially, there has been limited resource accessibility. Expecting students to complete work to the same standard as pre-pandemic years without being able to freely take out library books or maintain a productive and quiet workspace is unfair and unrealistic. As well as resources the fundamental aspect of teaching has been completely unsettled as, although different degrees may vary, the standard number and length of lectures each week has seen to alter now that they are pre-recorded and distributed online. Students may receive significantly less work from lazier lecturers or abundantly more work from those who are still trying to ascertain the correct load. Either way, learning suffers. Students have responded over social media: in outrage through scolding universities, in action through signing petitions and in wit through sharing that it feels like ‘we’re paying nine grand a year for a YouTube subscription!’. It cannot be forgotten that with this subscription comes the routine faults such as Wi-Fi glitches and university website malfunctions. Online learning has meant interaction on courses has drastically changed. Through the use of Zoom (or Google Meet or Blackboard Collaborate or any other particular platform that a specific teacher may prefer to use), tutorials have gone from chats outside the classroom to awkwardly waiting for the sessions to begin with most students too shy to turn their cameras, and sometimes even their microphones, on. Not only does this detrimentally affect the participation of students but it also harms teaching abilities. Staring into a blank abyss cannot be an optimum way to educate. Additionally, by being able to remain in darkness, students are more likely to get distracted. Checking social media, making a cup of tea or talking to a flat mate are distractions that could never occur in an in-person tutorial. For those less fortunate, checking on dependents, making a rent payment or talking to the flat maintenance man are all *disruptions* that could never occur in an in-person tutorial. Remaining in darkness can also mean feeling invisible. Due to the stilted platforms that only allow one person to speak at a time, discussion is disjointed and frustrating. Instead of quick-fire debates that naturally arise in person or the standard end-of-lecture questions, having to wait for the raised hand icon to be answered means people often lose their train of thought or deem their point no longer relevant. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to form vital relationships with fellow students, course tutors and even dissertation advisors. Aside from the social life aspect of academics, there is of course the destruction of social life in general that has had disastrous effects on students’ abilities. Mental health has plummeted since Covid-19 with suicides in varying universities, drop-out rates soaring and students falling into depression. ‘The best years of our lives’, as many adults describe it, have been stripped away as experiences with friends, be it through sports socials, society events, clubbing or simply being able to go for lunch in between lectures, are no longer possible. With gyms now closed, students have little means to release the energy that gets built up over a day of sitting at a desk. Predictably, lockdown rules are being broken, whether it’s just 3rd years having friends over for a small dinner party or 1st years having 200 people parties in halls. Moreover, both boredom and the social anxiety that lockdown has caused can make an initial idea of ‘fun’ get out of hand, causing a spiral of alcohol dependence and drug abuse. Claire Sosienski Smith, the National Union of Students Vice President, observes that although the average student suffers, it is the disadvantaged students who don’t just experience these academic and social struggles but are also inundated with a vast number of other problems contributing to malperformance. She writes ‘many students lack the required technology, working space and time to succeed, and those with existing childcare responsibilities will find this compounded with the closure of schools.’ Moreover, with shops, cafes and restaurants closed, the classic student part-time jobs were the first to go when the pandemic hit. Some students have been at a huge financial loss with student loans not being enough to cover rent, bills and basic living. Smith continues to argue that ‘Students really shouldn’t have to petition their institutions for fair treatment and assessments. Institutions and government must act to avoid further anxiety, uncertainty and discrimination. We need… no detriment policies nationwide now.’ And so, such academic, technological, social and financial issues faced by all students, especially those who are disadvantage, amounts to the stress of not passing the year or receiving an unfair degree grade that then causes the long-term fear of being left unemployed. All of this, and the actual health concerns of the global pandemic are yet to be addressed. Whether it is worry about family, friends or one’s own safety, students have not been supported, but instead blamed. With the PM’s ever-changing restriction announcements, university guidance is usually knocked off the list of priorities leaving students to guess whether they should be at their term residence or at home, in tutorials or online and therefore prioritising their studies or ‘saving lives’. At a turning-point age and a place where academic focus is of the upmost importance, stability is vital. Although Covid-19 cannot provide stability, the no-detriment policy can. If the no-detriment policy will not be implemented for a global pandemic, when will it be? https://www.nus.org.uk/articles/national-approach-needed-to-exams-assessment-and-no-detriment