By Hannah Webb | Opinion Editor
After a whirlwind of confusion, cyberattacks and shifting finals schedules, Baylor students are reacting to the nationwide Canvas outage with frustration, stress and uncertainty as the university prepares to move Friday final exams online to next Thursday.
The outage, reportedly connected to a cyberattack on Instructure, the company that operates Canvas, left students across campus without access to study guides, practice tests, assignments and course materials during one of the busiest academic weeks of the semester.
Although Baylor restored access to Canvas Friday afternoon, many students said the disruption had already taken a toll on their studying and final exam preparation.
Houston sophomore Bria Gordon said the lack of communication from Baylor added to students’ frustrations. With prior notice, students feel they could have downloaded the materials from the platform before the outage.
“We didn’t receive any notifications about Canvas being down or [the security breach] until Canvas shut down,” Gordon said.
Gordon said the outage felt especially disruptive because students depend heavily on Canvas during finals week.
“Everybody’s using Canvas for their course materials and their assignments,” she said. “It felt like the university didn’t really care about their students.”
As students scrambled Thursday to understand whether finals would be canceled, postponed, become optional or moved online, Gordon created a petition asking Baylor to allow students to keep their current grades rather than take final exams.
“If you have an A, you get to keep that A,” Gordon said. “Even if you have a B, you get to keep that B.”
She said the petition aimed to create a fair solution for students whose studying was interrupted by the outage and the uncertainty surrounding it.
“So many people are betting on their finals to boost their grade up,” Gordon said. “Because of everything that’s been going on, it’s kind of hard, especially with all the stress that this has caused.”
Houston freshman Ava Hedayat said she was surprised by the outage and the rapid changes to the finals schedule.
“This was definitely super unexpected and something that I feel none of us could have imagined coming,” Hedayat said.
Hedayat had two finals scheduled for Friday that were postponed to next week. While she said the delay gives her additional study time, it also complicates travel and work plans.
“I’m on call working at the hospital for 12 hours Wednesday and Thursday,” Hedayat said. “I’m flying out of the country on Sunday.”
She also questioned how professors accustomed to paper exams would transition their finals online on short notice.
“I don’t know how they’re going to adjust putting all of those onto the computer,” she said.
Hedayat also said she understood why some students felt Baylor’s response was uneven because only Friday finals were delayed.
“I feel bad for people who still have to take their final tomorrow,” Hedayat said. “I still feel like they should get more time to study too.”
Spring sophomore Joel Thute said the outage immediately caused problems for students preparing for exams.
“We needed the Canvas material for our courses,” Thute said. “Whether it’s a finals overview or checklist or anything that was needed for the finals.”
Though Thute did not have finals scheduled for Friday, he said many students are now facing additional stress because of delayed exams and travel conflicts.
“It’s still going to be very hectic for them,” he said.
Louisville, Ky., freshman Baxter Lowe said he believed some students may be overstating the severity of the outage, even though the situation remains frustrating for those with delayed exams.
“Personally, it didn’t really affect me that much,” Lowe said. “I don’t think it’s that catastrophic. I think people are probably going to overplay it.”
Still, Lowe said moving exams online next week could create complications for students who are traveling or enrolled in courses like calculus that are traditionally given on paper.
“There’s a question in how you’re going to take that online,” Lowe said. “Personally, I would love to see a take-home test or a final project instead of a final.”
Unlike some students who argued all finals should be postponed, Lowe said Baylor’s decision to delay only Friday exams made sense given the circumstances.
“I feel like life’s not fair,” Lowe said. “Canvas got hacked, I feel like you want to return to normalcy as soon as possible instead of throwing everybody’s finals around.”
Lowe also said the outage did not significantly affect his studying because professors were able to provide materials outside of Canvas.
“My teacher sent me the files,” Lowe said. “It was like an hour or two that I couldn’t study, but it was not a big deal.”
Still, many students agree there may not be a perfect solution to the situation.
“There’s pros and cons to every perspective,” he said. “There’s not really a right or wrong. It’s just an unprecedented situation.”
Updates concerning Canvas and final exams can be found on Baylor’s website.
