Move To Eliminate Class Of Honors Loses Steam

After a measure to eliminate honors degrees based solely on GPA divided the Faculty in a meeting last month, further discussion of the issue has been postponed indefinitely, according to outgoing Dean of Undergraduate Education Susan G. Pedersen ’81-’82.

The proposal, drafted by Pedersen in January, recommended eliminating cum laude in general studies (CLGS)—an honor based entirely on GPA and not work done within the concentration.

The honor, which was earned by just over a quarter of the Class of 2001, dates back to the 1900s when students did not have to choose a particular concentration.

When discussion of the proposal elimination first went before the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) in January, the student and Faculty members split over the issue, with students opposing it.

“Just because you are not doing what your concentration says is an ‘honors track,’ it does not mean that you are not doing intellectually challenging work,” CUE student representative Brianna M. Ewert ’03 said at the time.

Similarly, the proposal met with mixed reviews during last month’s Faculty discussion. Many faculty members expressed concern that the University recognized students whose grade-point averages were in the “A” range but chose not to write a thesis.

“It seems odd to award honors to students who have not earned honors in their concentrations, given that work in the concentration is the most important component of undergraduates’ work here,” Pedersen wrote earlier in the semester.

At the meeting several Faculty members, including Pearson Professor of Modern Mathematics and Mathematical Logic Warren Goldfarb ’69, said they felt cum laude honors should be retained but added that the grade cut-off for granting honors outside of concentration work should be raised.

“The consensus now [among the Faculty] seems to be that honors should be looked at holistically and the CLGS piece should not be dealt with separately,” Pedersen said.

Pedersen said yesterday the issue is unlikely to go before the Faculty again this year since it makes sense to postpone a further discussion of honors—particularly related to raising the GPA standard—until a Faculty discussion of grade inflation that will likely take place in May.

The Faculty’s Educational Policy Committee (EPC) is in the process of reviewing reports that each department submitted this semester reviewing its internal grading procedures.

The EPC plans to engage in a discussion with the entire Faculty this spring, at which time some concrete proposals for combatting grade inflation will be presented, she said.

“Before we decide to raise the GPA cut-off it makes sense to define the grading standards since [the new grades] might translate into different standards of honors,” she said.

—Staff writer Jessica E. Vascellero can be reached at vascell@fas.harvard.edu.