Princeton Will Consider Cap On High Grades

Three years after Harvard drew intense public scrutiny for grade inflation, Princeton is considering an unprecedented proposal, announced Wednesday, that would cap the number of A-range grades its faculty award.

The measure—to be voted on by professors at an April 26 meeting—calls for departments to ensure that A-pluses, A’s and A-minuses comprise less than 35 percent of total grades in undergraduate courses.

Last academic year, about 47 percent of grades awarded by Princeton were in the A-range. And a Princeton study found that in recent years, A-range grades represented 44 to 55 percent of grades given at 11 elite colleges—the Ivy League schools, Stanford University, MIT and the University of Chicago.

Harvard has seen its own share of controversy over grade inflation. After a series of articles published in the Boston Globe in 2001 revealing that an overwhelming number of College students graduate with honors, University President Lawrence H. Summers committed to addressing the problem.

But a report from Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 this past February revealed that the number of A-range grades given actually increased last academic year, from 46.4 percent to 47.8 percent.

“The data show that the mean grade in undergraduate courses rose slightly in 2002-03; they also suggest that grade compression continues to be a concern,” Gross wrote in a letter accompanying the report. “These trends are both best addressed through ongoing discussion at the departmental level.”

And how exactly the College will tackle the issue remains unclear.

“I wish it weren’t so,” Summers said in February about the data. “We need to think about what to do about this.”

A PRINCETON PRIORITY

In addition to capping A’s in undergraduate classes, Princeton’s proposal—sent to Princeton faculty by Dean of the College Nancy W. Malkiel—would also seek to hold A-range grades to less than 55 percent of grades given for independent work, such as junior papers and theses.

While grade distributions would vary among classes, the proposal calls for departments to conform to the grading guidelines and for departmental grade data to be made public. The new policy would also provide “clear guidelines...about the meaning of letter grades.”

Malkiel declined to comment last night.

But in a cover memo accompanying the proposal, Malkiel wrote that department chairs had asked her to take the lead in setting an ambitious universitywide grading policy.

“Curbing grade inflation will require more aggressive steps than we have taken,” she said.

And within the actual proposal, Malkiel wrote that the proposal would put Princeton ahead of other schools in the national fight against grade inflation.

“Thirty-five percent A’s will set us apart from the pack in a way that identifies Princeton as a real leader in tackling this problem,” Malkiel wrote in the proposal.

Princeton’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) President Matt Margolin said that students are split on whether grade inflation needs to be addressed.

“There are more that are against this policy,” he said. “Naturally, it seems like an attack.”

But he added that the USG would solicit opinions about the plan through a referendum to the student body, and he would convey the results, along with the USG response to the plan, in an upcoming letter to Malkiel and Princeton President Shirley M. Tilghman.

“Of course we like the idea that our school is trying to do something about this perceived problem,” Margolin said.

But he said the proposal failed to address the fact that students often choose the pass/fail option for classes in which they expect to perform poorly, enabling them to maintain inflated grade point averages.

He also worried that a cap on A’s might create a more cutthroat academic environment.

CLOSER TO HOME

Harvard administrators remain silent about future plans to curb grade inflation at the College.

Faculty of Arts and Sciences spokesperson Robert Mitchell declined comment on whether Harvard is considering any plans similar to Princeton’s. Summers declined comment yesterday through a spokesperson.

Gross wrote in an e-mail that he had been in contact with Malkiel about Princeton’s proposed changes, although he declined to address whether Harvard will consider comparable measures.

“It will be interesting to see how the faculty at Princeton reacts to the proposal,” Gross wrote.

Kenan Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield ’53, one of the most vocal critics of grade inflation at Harvard, said he thought that 35 percent A’s was still too many.

“But it would be a definite improvement over the present situation at Harvard,” he said.

Baird Professor of Science Gary J. Feldman said he thinks it is critical to distinguish the best students in classes.

“My main concern was not so much with grade inflation as grade compression, and having a way of rewarding students who do truly excellent work,” Feldman said. “We don’t have that at the moment because 25 percent [of students] get full A’s.”

But Undergraduate Council President Matthew W. Mahan ’05 said he “would absolutely be opposed” to a proposal like Princeton’s.

“I don’t think it helps anyone but Harvard’s image to impose arbitrary caps,” Mahan said.

Mansfield said he hopes that the proposed changes at Princeton would spark renewed discussion of the issue at Harvard.

“One of the things we need to start doing is talk—to get people talking on the subject and explaining just what it is that’s wrong with grade inflation,” he said. “I think a lot of the faculty don’t realize the harm that it’s doing, and they don’t realize either that they’re degrading the value of their colleague’s grades.”

Feldman noted the challenge in garnering faculty support to fight grade inflation.

“It’s a very difficult problem because faculty members certainly all insist on having the right to set grades,” he said. “It’s something that has to be done by a consensus of the faculty, and that’s what makes it such a difficult problem to solve, and it has to be done in a way that’s not coercive.”

Mansfield said that while the Princeton move was heartening for foes of grade inflation, reform at Harvard is not necessarily on the horizon.

“I wouldn’t be too optimistic, but it is a sign that one of our major friends and rivals is seriously thinking about acting on the subject,” he said. “So it’s not just one crazy professor.”

—Staff writer Stephen M. Marks can be reached at marks@fas.harvard.edu.