This Week in Oberlin History

This week we look into an issue that was relevant in late ‘80s, but whose resolution came a mere two years ago. The Credit/No Entry system that was an issue 20 years ago was brought up again in 2003 when the system was finally changed to Pass/No Pass. On Sept. 19, 1986, though, the faculty and administration were discussing changing the system because of the results from a survey conducted by Registrar Douglass Gardner, who spoke with several universities and interviewed them about how they perceive transcripts from Oberlin students applying for graduate programs in their institutions.
- The News Team

According to Gardner, the present grading system is “dishonest,” but the faculty voted [in April, 1985] to uphold it with the stipulation that it be more clearly explained on academic transcripts. [...]

The new transcript describes the grading system in bright red and emphasizes the fact that grades below C- do not appear.

The registrar’s survey found that 57 percent of the 136 admissions officers who responded felt that Oberlin’s present grading system has a negative effect on the applications of Oberlin students applying to their institutions. [...]

[English professor Katherine] Linehan added that in the light of these findings there would certainly be more discussion. [...]

Sociology professor William Norries, who personally does not agree with the grading system as is and is a supporter of adding the “D” grade, critiqued the survey.

“Looking at this strictly as a problem of the introduction to a questionnaire, it seems quite clear to me that the first paragraph is leading the respondent toward a particular response to Oberlin’s grading practices.” [...]

Columbia University’s history department said the system “falsifies the record!”

A motion was made by Government professor Paul Dawson to delete the wording and the alternative ways to word the transcript to be brought back to the faculty. The motion was passed after much debate. [...]

The old form placed the explanation of the grading system at the very end of a lengthy key on the back of the transcript. History professor Robert Neil said that “it would not be possible to devise a form that would play down more than what we are actually doing.”

However, Neil feels that the revision “was swinging back too far in the other direction.”

Government professor Ronald Kahn went on to add that “the words in red as it is on the new transcript does a real injustice for those students who are taking less than 15 credits but have not failed a course or were required to drop a course due to illness or other factors beyond their control.”

Economic professor Robert Tufts agreed on the misleading nature of the wording.

“It throws a doubt on all Oberlin transcripts,” he said.

More dialogue followed in which faculty members once again breached the bigger issue concerning the grading system as a whole.