The Graduate and Professional Student Federation recently surveyed graduate students about a proposal to change the graduate grading system from "high pass," "pass," "low pass," "fail" to a letter-grade scale. About 22 percent of all graduate students participated in the survey, which concluded Monday.
Results were compiled, then presented at Wednesday's meeting of the Faculty Council's Educational Policy Committee.
This information showed that a large majority of graduate students -- 82 percent of the 1,274 survey participants -- favor keeping the HPLF scale in place.
From this, the GPSF recommended that the proposal to change the Graduate School grading system be rejected by the committee. "Most members of the committee were surprised that so many students were so passionately against a change in the grading system," said George Harper, the committee's graduate student representative.
Harper also is a member of a subgroup of the Educational Policy Committee responsible for looking in-depth at the survey results. Computer science Professor John Halton and Barbara Wildemuth, professor of information and library science, complete the three-person subgroup. Halton, the subgroup's chairman, said the three would converse in the coming week and hope to have a recommendation ready to present at next Wednesday's Educational Policy Committee meeting.
While many had expected a different response from graduate students, GPSF President Branson Page expressed no surprise at the survey's results. "It's basically what I expected," he said. "A lot of students came to grad school here expecting this grading system. It's one of the things that sets us apart from other schools in a good way. ... Students can immerse themselves in learning for the sake of learning and not worry about every little point and grade they get."
The idea of changing the grading system first was discussed by the Administrative Board of the Graduate School at the request of deans and professors. After information was gathered, the board passed the matter on to the Education Policy Committee.
Linda Dykstra, dean of the Graduate School, said she was pleased by the survey's results. "It's gratifying to see that graduate students recognize the true nature of graduate education," she said. But graduate student opinion is not the final determinant in this decision.
After the committee reviews recommendations from its subgroup and the GPSF, it will create its own recommendation, which will be presented to the full Faculty Council. A decision should be reached by the end of the semester.
