Volume CXXXI, Number 20 April 5, 2002 f

Faculty approves plus/minus system
NICHOLAS J. LoVECCHIO
ORIENT STAFF

The Faculty voted 45 to 29 to add pluses and minuses to Bowdoin's grading system, a change that will go into effect for all students in the 2002-2003 academic year. Of the 74 faculty members voting at their meeting Monday, 61 percent voted for the change, while 39 voted against it.

Immediately following the vote, chair of the Recording Committee Stephen Naculich moved to overturn the College's long-held policy that prohibits students' GPAs from being printed on their transcripts and replace it with a policy that requires GPA to appear on all transcripts. The reason for the change, he said, is that GPA is not computed consistently among all students, with each student computing his or her own GPA individually. The Faculty will discuss the proposed measure at their May meeting.

Mark Lucci '04, a member of the Recording Committee who was present at the meeting, said he has heard from many students who are upset by the change. "It was my impression," he said, "that the Faculty did not look at the student opinion poll or the forum in very high regard.

"Granted, it is up to the Faculty to set academic policy, including grading, but I feel the details of the system have a greater impact on the student body than the Faculty," Lucci said.

To get a sense of how much the entire student body is upset by the change, Lucci will be holding a meeting on Monday night at 8 p.m. at 7 Boody St. for anyone interested in discussing the adoption of the plus/minus grading system. The goal of this meeting, he said, is primarily organizational and to brainstorm ideas on what steps to take to persuade the Faculty to make further changes.

Before the vote Monday, economics professor John Fitzgerald moved to amend the plus/minus measure by adding A/B and B/C grades instead of pluses and minuses. In response, Naculich remarked that a major reason for the change is to improve communication among Bowdoin and other schools. The proposed amendment was voted down, though a significant number of faculty members voted in support of it.

Professors in favor of a plus/minus system argued that it would allow for greater accuracy and distinction among student work. Others disagreed, citing that there already exists a five-point range of grades and that grade inflation might worsen.

Computer science professor Alan Tucker said that Cs are underutilized grades, and that professors can distinguish among students if they give more Cs.

Government professor Jean Yarbrough strongly expressed worries about increased grade inflation under a plus/minus system, and urged that the Faculty not vote for pluses and minuses until there's a clearer sense of how they would affect grade inflation.

While there might be at least a one-time shift upwards of mean grades following the change, philosophy professor Sehon responded, this would not necessarily indicate a continuous nudging up of students' overall GPAs.
There was disagreement over how to handle student input in the matter.

Mathematics professor Matt Killough urged other faculty members to take student opinion seriously and vote against the measure so as to avoid sending the message that professors overvalue the importance of grades.
"One of the things that distinguishes us from other institutions is our lack of emphasis on grades," Killough said, citing also that SATs are optional and that GPAs are not computed. "We don't see grades as what's fundamentally important….I think students are here largely because they appreciate that that's what we value," he said.

"My students do not want this grade change," chemistry professor Richard Broene said, explaining part of his reasoning for voting against the change.
Others were not so convinced that students themselves devalue the importance of grades or that student poll results should be taken into account. There was a sense among certain faculty members that the 37 percent turnout in the student poll was too low to gauge student opinion on the matter.

While agreeing that education should not be about grades, sociology professor Nancy Riley said that Bowdoin students "care desperately" about their grades. "I think that grades are very important at Bowdoin, and students see their grades as very important," she said.

Bemoaning a two-hour argument with a student over a grade, theater professor Davis Robinson also said he felt that Bowdoin students are very grade conscious and that a plus/minus system could alleviate such arguments.

Economics professor Deborah DeGraff wondered if students were aware of the grading system prior to coming to Bowdoin. Melissa Tansey '02, a member of the Recording Committee, responded that prospective students do seek out this information, and it is available to them at least through the College Catalogue, which is sent to all applicants. She said that many students at the February forum expressed that they did know about Bowdoin's grading prior to coming here and that it factored into their decisions.

English professor Marylin Reizbaum said she believed that many of the students at the forum had a "retroactive" memory, and that they didn't actually know about the grading system before coming to Bowdoin but only thought they did in looking back.

Robinson asked if professors would be required to use pluses and minuses under the new system. In reply, Dean Craig McEwen said that right now Bowdoin has a five-point grading system and not everyone gives out all five grades.

Following the vote, philosophy professor Scott Sehon, who voted in favor of the change, moved to reconsider. He said that since this was such a contentious issue, he only supported the measure if a large majority of the faculty voted in favor of it. Since there was not a large majority of the votes in favor, he recommended that the faculty vote again so that he and others could change their votes to oppose the measure. The motion to reconsider was voted down.