Faculty set to vote on proposal

In a 4:30 p.m. meeting today in Nassau Hall, the set of anti-grade inflation proposals released two weeks ago by the Committee on Examinations and Standing will come before a vote of the faculty. The faculty may choose to vote for or against the proposals, amend them or postpone a vote.

The proposals have raised eyebrows across academia as the University has taken the most aggressive steps of any selective university to tackle what proponents of the proposal see as an unproductive rise in grades over the past decade.

Several department chairs said in interviews Sunday that it was likely the faculty would approve the proposals, though none ruled out the possibility that the proposals could be tabled.

"No one is wildly enthusiastic about the proposals, but I think they will pass because many people think it's time now to do something about the inflation of grades," Robert Tignor, chair of the history department, said. "I think people are genuinely confused about what grades mean anymore."

Three department chairs — Angel Loureiro of Spanish and Portuguese languages and cultures; Jeffrey Herbst '83 of politics and Daniel Marlow of physics — said they felt there was broad support throughout the University for unified grading standards across departments.

"In this department we have more or less adhered to the standards in the proposals, which right now puts our students at a disadvantage," Marlow said. "We were at a crossroads where either we had to start inflating our grades to be fair to our students or others needed to deflate. It seems more reasonable for the latter to occur."

Alexander Smits, chair of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department also noted that while there are doubts about the details of the proposals among the faculty, they did not seem significant enough to compel faculty members to go against the proposals.

"All departments will have different problems with the proposals but taken as a whole it's a pretty good approach," Marlow said. "What is important is that the faculty acts in a unified way. If we all want different changes and concessions then it's all going to fall apart."

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During the drafting of the proposals, Malkiel worked closely with department chairs to formulate and refine the provisions, but some faculty members and students have taken issue with the fact that they were not given a voice in this process.

"One thing that concerns me with the proposals is that department chairs have had a lot of time to discuss these issues but I've missed more student involvement in the process," Loureiro said. "Students have been given a chance in the last two weeks to express their opinions, but I wish they could have been more integrated into the discussion."

Since the proposals were released earlier this month, each department has held faculty meetings to discuss the proposals, while Dean of the College Nancy Weiss Malkiel has met with students to address questions and concerns.

If the faculty decides to vote on the issue at today's meeting the proposals will need the support of a majority of the faculty members present to pass, Malkiel said.