Post Grades by ID Numbers, Not Names

The recent brouhaha within the Committee on Undergraduate Education over the posting of course grades alongside student names and identification numbers lacks both sense and sensibility. In the first place, the debate is somewhat removed from reality because while the official Information for Instructors handbook prohibits professors from posting grades by either ID number or name, the practice is not uncommon among the Faculty. Further, the rule itself is misguided in that, if enforced, students will be prevented from receiving their grades in a timely fashion. And, finally, the current edition of the Teaching Fellows' Handbook, published by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, reads, "Teaching Fellows should not post grades by student names, although student identification numbers may be used." The incompetence made evident by this contradiction astounds us.

No one, of course, would like to see individuals' names and grades displayed together in public. There's enough competition at Harvard to satiate even the most toughened soul. But, upon grounds of efficiency, we must request the posting of grades alongside ID numbers. If this practice becomes common, students' privacy will be protected and their hunger for grades will prove satisfied. Dean of Undergraduate Education Lawrence Buell should push for such a change in the University's rules.

Registrar Georgene B. Herschbach has suggested allowing students a personal information number (PIN) separate from their ID number for the purpose of receiving test scores. We believe that a PIN would simply lead to greater confusion among undergraduates who are already plagued by the workings of the paper-happy Harvard bureaucracy. Besides, Herschbach herself has characterized ID numbers as of a "semi-confidential" nature, a description which certainly allows them to be used for the dissemination of grades. Posting grades by ID number, without the correspondent listing of names, would facilitate the distribution of grades to the benefit of the undergraduate community.