DEGREE WITH DISTINCTION

The new rules for conferring the degree of Bachelor of Arts with distinction, which were voted recently by the Faculty, approved by the Overseers, and are today posted in University Hall, institute an important change, and will be tried at least four years. The requirements for an honor degree will hereafter be more exacting and after the Freshman year certain privileges will be given to undergraduate candidates whom the Dean's considers to deserve them. Those who are on the Dean's List, which is provided for by the rules, may use their discretion to a certain extent in attending lectures, and may be absent from Cambridge during term-time. with limitations, although their registration after recesses will be strictly required as before.

The rules are as follows:

"Beginning with the class of 1907, the degree of Bachelor of Arts with distinction will be conferred only under the following rules. In 1905 and 1906, students may choose whether they will be candidates for this degree under these new rules or under the present rules.

"CUM LAUDE ON GENERAL STUDIES. A candidate is recommended for the degree cum laude who has obtained grade A or B in nine elective courses, but courses regularly open to Freshmen (Catalogue, p. 482) count for this purpose only as half-courses. He must have obtained a grade above D in at least two-thirds of his remaining work, that being the standard now required for the degree without distinction.

"CUM LAUDE ON A SUBJECT OR RELATED SUBJECTS. A candidate is recommended for the degree cum laude who has completed a considerable amount of advanced work in some subject or related subjects and who has been recommended on the ground of this work to the Faculty by a Division or a Department, or by a special committee appointed by the Faculty for this purpose. He must have obtained a grade above D in at least two-thirds of his remaining work.

"MAGNA CUM LAUDE. A candidate otherwise qualified for the degree cum laude on a subject or related subjects is recommended for the degree magna cum laude who has been recommended to the Faculty for this degree by a Division or a Department or by a special committee on the ground of high distinction.

"The subject or related subjects in which the degree cum and magna cum laude are conferred under sections three and four will be mentioned in the diploma and on the Commencement program.

"A candidate who fails to obtain the degree with distinction in a subject or related subjects may nevertheless receive the degree without distinction on the recommendation of the Division, Department, or committee concerned.

"The Divisions, Departments and committees are formulating plans under which they will recommend candidates, and these may be obtained of the Recorder as soon as they are ready.

"A student intending to become a candidate for a degree with distinction on a subject or related subjects will record his name at the office of the Dean of Harvard College. This he may do as early, as the beginning of his Sophomore year, or at any time not later than November 1 of the academic year in which he expects to receive the degree; but a Division, Department, or special committee may fix as the latest date in its own case a time earlier than November 1 of that year.

"A student who records himself as intending to become a candidate for the degree with distinction on a subject or related subjects is entitled to have his name placed upon a List at the beginning of his Sophomore year, providing he has not fallen below C during his Freshman year, or at any later time when he has satisfied the Dean of Harvard College that he is fit to have his name placed upon the List; and any student who has been in one of the first two groups of scholarship holders during any year is entitled to have his name placed upon the List during the succeeding year. The name of any student may be withdrawn from the List at any time on recommendation of the Department under which he is working, or by the Dean after consultation with that Department, if the student fails to obtain or maintain after being entered on the List a standard of scholarship and conduct satisfactory to the Dean.

"Students whose names are on the List will, except for registration, be trusted by the Dean with greater responsibility and discretion in the ordering of their College work, so far as this does not interfere with the collective interests of the classes or sections to which they belong, and will be excused during their last year in College from examinations in courses belonging to their subject or related subjects, in case the Division or Department under which they are working has provided some other public test than those examinations as the ground for its recommendation.

"The form of distinction called Honorable Mention will not be continued after 1906."