USG mulls next steps on deflation

The USG brainstormed ways to engage more students in discussing the University's grading policy Sunday night, during a lengthy meeting that left officers split over whether to work with Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel or bypass her and approach professors directly about implementation of the controversial initiative.

The meeting came following a public dispute over the policy between Malkiel, who spearheaded the plan, and USG president Alex Lenahan '07, a longtime opponent of grade deflation efforts. The two clashed last week in emails to the student body and on the opinion page of The Daily Princetonian.

Lenahan and other officers acknowledged that as long as the initiative — which sets an expectation of 35 percent A-range grades for course work and 55 percent for independent work across each academic department — is in place, steps should be taken to shape its implementation in the best interests of students.

"We didn't mean for this to be a discussion about how X percentage of the Senate says, 'This sucks' and Y percent say [the policy] is great — we already have a survey that represents student opinion as a whole," Lenahan said, referring to a survey the USG sent to all students last summer. "The question now is how to get that opinion out, and how to work on implementation of the policy."

The survey's results, released last month, suggest 75 percent of students view the policy negatively.

During the meeting, Lenahan, echoing his earlier emails, worried that many professors lack a clear understanding of the policy. Lenahan suggested the USG urge Malkiel to send a letter to faculty members, clarifying that the policy is merely a suggestion.

"It would be some sort of thing where Dean Malkiel was to say, 'Ultimately, it's up to you to decide what grades students deserve — we voted this and decided what percentage of grades students generally deserve, but it's your decision,' " he said. "So [that way] departments don't put pressure on faculty the way they do [now]."

But, as they spoke in a free-form "committee of the whole" format — sometimes simultaneously — other officers suggested a more direct approach.

"We have just as much influence with professors as [administrators like Malkiel] do," U-Council chair Liz Gough '07 said. "We need to write a letter to professors clarifying the policy ... Coming from us, it would mean more than us asking Dean Malkiel to maybe do this."

Lenahan began to respond that the clarification might have more clout with faculty if it came from Malkiel, but Gough interrupted. "That's just not gonna happen," she said.

By the end of the meeting, the officers compiled a preliminary list of ways to ease the policy's implementation. Initial suggestions included requiring preceptors to write half-page midterm student evaluations in order to supplement grades with feedback, launching poster campaigns to urge students to talk to their professors about the policy and ensuring students receive copies of their exams so they can know why they received their grades.

Undergraduate life chair Caroline Chopko '07, repeating a proposal from an earlier USG meeting this year, suggested enabling students to rescind the pass/D/fail option retroactively. This would make students less wary about taking "no P/D/F" courses, she said, since it would encourage students who P/D/F courses to do well, thus reducing the difference between grading curves in courses with and without a P/D/F option.

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The current system is "very unfair for students in courses where no one P/D/F's anything," she said.

In an interview after the meeting, Lenahan — who said Malkiel contacted him about scheduling a meeting to discuss the policy and who plans to accept her offer — repeated that ensuring professors understand the policy remains his primary concern.

"The fundamental idea is that every professor can give whatever grade they think each student deserves," he said. "Ultimately, there should never be a situation where a professor says, 'I think a student deserves this grade but I can't give it to them.' Whatever way to get to that endpoint is a worthwhile road to travel down."