Excerpt from the DRAFT Minutes of the 108th New Brunswick Faculty Council Meeting January 18, 2002
 

Discussion of Proposed Changes in the Rutgers Grading System - R. Bell

Rudy Bell, Chair of the Academic Regulations and Standards Committee, began by thanking Council members for their excellent work in polling their constituents with respect to the proposal to change the Rutgers default grading system.  He reported that he had received several hundred e-mails on the subject and was struck by the passion, thoughtfulness, and eloquence of many of those who responded.  He summarized the polling results as showing fervid support for the addition of A- and B- grades concentrated in the humanities and some social sciences, with pockets of support in some science and engineering departments; considerably weaker support for the addition of the A+ grade; and substantial opposition to addition of the C- grade. He further noted that besides differences in degree of support by discipline, support for the addition of minus grades was weakest among faculty who have been at Rutgers the longest.

Prof. Bell reported that in an attempt to forge a consensus that would have the support of a substantial majority of the faculty, the original proposal was modified to include only the addition of A- and B- grades with a corresponding shift in the grade point values of B+ and C+. He  noted that the core rationale for the revised proposal is that where there are now only three grades, A, B+, and B to distinguish among students whose performance is very good and above, in the proposed grading scheme, there would be five grades to make distinctions among the upper group of students: A, A-, B+, B, and B-, and that this added flexibility would enable faculty to evaluate student work more accurately, honestly, and fairly. With that prelude, Prof. Bell introduced the following resolution, moved and seconded by the Academic Regulations and Standards Committee, and noted that it had the unanimous support of the members of the Committee.
 

Be it resolved that the New Brunswick Faculty Council recommends that the grades of A- and B- be added to the grading system used for undergraduate courses at Rutgers and that the point values assigned to the various letter grades be changed to the following:

 After a relatively brief discussion, the question was called and the motion passed by a substantial majority.