Columbia Adopts Pass-Fail Plans

Columbia last week joined Princeton, Pennsylvania, and Brown in adopting a pass-fail system to alleviate grade pressure. At the same time, Princeton radically expanded its present plan and now will not limit the number of courses taken by a student for ungraded credit.

The Columbia program, effective next fall, resembles the one to be considered this Spring by the Harvard Faculty and those currently in effect at the three other Ivy League schools.

Under the plans, all students have the option to take one course in which they receive a "pass" or "fail" grade. The course cannot be used to fulfill a distribution requirement or as credit in a field of concentration.

Tyranny of Grades

The Columbia Committee on Instruction, which submitted the pass-fail proposal to the faculty last month, stated that the program's aim is "both to alleviate an excessive emphasis on grades and to encourage students to take more courses in areas outside their fields of specialization."

Princeton, which along with Brown initiated the plan to take courses without letter grades last year, amended its program "to provide more options for the Princeton undergraduate," Edward D. Sullivan '36, dean of the College, and originator of the expanded program, said.

Princeton's new plan uses the term "audited courses" instead of pass-fail. If an audited course is failed or dropped any time during the semester, the university will keep no record of a student's connection with the course. In addition, an "audited" course may count toward a student's distribution requirements.