GSAS to Revise Policy On Grading Next Year

In an attempt to set up a "fairer" grading system, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences has decided to give more C's and D's to graduate students starting next year.

While a B average will remain the passing mark, graduate students will be allowed to include C's and D's in their averages if the lower grades are balanced by a suitable number of A's, Dean J. Peterson Elder of the GSAS announced yesterday. At present, students receive no credit for any grade lower than B.

Elder explained that the move to mark graduate students on a scale similar to undergraduates will eliminate the "courtesy B minuses" now given out by many instructors. Elder admitted having occasionally given B minuses to students who would otherwise have received no credit for a course.

B minuses for graduate students, according to Elder, have come to represent work of an inferior quality. The present requirement to balance each B minus with a B plus will also be dropped, he added.

"We believed that a student who receives three A's and a D is doing a better job than some one with straight B's," Elder stated. By the new plan, he continued, a C will have to be balanced by one A, and a D by two A's.

Efficiency, Fairness to Result

One of the purposes of the change, he said, will be to increase efficiency and fairness in courses with both graduate and undergraduate students. Instructors will be urged to use the same marking scale for all students.

The change will not affect the expulsion of students from the graduate school, Elder said, since each case is considered on individual merits and not on marks alone.

Another proposal accepted by the Faculty, according to Elder, increases the credit allowed for study outside the University from a term's to a year's work.