By Jacquie Powers
The Faculty Senate last week took action on two measures that will have significant impact on the university: It approved a new grading plan for students and paved the way for implementation of a new, universitywide sexual harassment policy.
Under the new grading plan, called a "Truth in Grading" policy by its proponents, approved by a 44 to 36 vote, a student's transcript in coming years will include the median grade of students in the course and the number of students taking the course, as well as the student's grade. Transcripts now list only the student's grade. After being debated in three successive Senate meetings, the plan was approved by a 44 to 36 vote.
The plan had elicited controversy on campus. Proponents said it would provide students and others who review student transcripts with more information and a context in which to better judge what specific grades mean. Currently, the meaning of grades is difficult to interpret, they said, as grades and grading policies vary greatly both within Cornell's own colleges and among colleges nationally. Proponents also suggested it would encourage students to take more demanding courses.
But many faculty members and students opposed the plan. They said it would hurt students by creating even more competition for grades than currently exists, thereby increasing academic pressures.
"I've always regarded grades as a necessary evil," Professor David Mermin, physics, said in opposing the proposed policy at last Wednesday's meeting. "This policy would give a spurious sense of precision to those numbers . . . grades will intrude even more than they do."
Peter C. Stein, dean of the faculty, said he had called at least 10 administrators at Canadian universities that currently have a similar policy to determine whether there had been any student complaints about adverse effects. "I did not hear of any," Stein said.
The new policy will not take effect for several years, until a new computer system ionline to handle it. In the meantime, faculty and students should monitor the results of such a plan now being adopted at Dartmouth College, Stein said.
In other action, the Faculty Senate approved a number of recommendations for changes to the revised version of the new universitywide sexual harassment policy proposed by Provost Don M. Randel.
Randel had released a preliminary draft of the new proposal last fall and sought input from members of the campus community. The Faculty Council of Representatives (FCR), the governing body that was replaced by the Faculty Senate in January, and other campus groups and individuals responded with numerous suggestions.
The revised draft, released in March, incorporates many of those suggestions, including, Stein said, "almost all the resolutions the FCR made in the fall term."
Most of the changes approved at Wednesday's meeting were technical changes in specific words and phrases in the new policy.
The Faculty Senate's recommendations now go to the provost, who hopes to finalize the new policy before the end of the semester.
"We appreciate the very careful consideration the Faculty Senate and the Committee on Academic Freedom have given to this issue," Randel said. "We will review the changes recommended by the Faculty Senate before finalizing a new sexual harassment policy. We are committed to establishing a universitywide policy that reflects the concerns and input of all campus constituencies and that is both fair and sensitive to all potential parties in such matters."
Minutes of Faculty Senate meetings are available electronically at http://www.cornell.edu/Faculty_senate/.