Draft Has Little Effect On First Term's Grades

Uncertainty over the draft had little effect on grades in the College during the past term, according to figures released by the Office of the Registrar yesterday.

Although 2.6 percent fewer students achieved Dean's List standing as compared to last year, University Hall officials agreed that the decrease is too small to be significant. There was an over-all increase of one percent in the number of unsatisfactory records, although the figure for the Class of 1952 jumped five percent in this respect.

Both Dean Bender and Registrar Sargent Kennedy '28 expressed mild surprise that the fluctuation was so slight. Bender said yesterday that he had expected the figures would show a sharper decline in marks than proved to be the case.

Kennedy emphasized that mid-year grades can in no way effect a student's draft standing under current regulations. Draft boards are interested only in a student's class standing during the previous complete academic year.

In all classes, the upper-half dividing line fell somewhere in Group IV. Seniors, to be in the upper half, had to be in the top one-third of the Group; juniors, top two-thirds; sophomores, top four-fifths, and freshmen, top five-sixths. Rank within a group is determined on the basis of plus and minus grades.

While the College as a whole exhibited no tendency either to work especially hard for grades this fall or to let things slide completely, the number of juniors and sophomores with unsatisfactory records jumped appreciably.

This was especially true of the Class of 1952 which had 12.7 percent unsatisfactory records, compared to 7.7 percent for the Class of 1951 during its junior year. Sophomores with unsatisfactory records rose from 13.8 percent in 1950 to 15.1 this year.

Because the draft status of the junior and sophomore classes has been the most uncertain during the past few months, Dean Bender said that in some cases tension may have been a factor. Almost all the students called into the Dean's Office because of unsatisfactory grades mentioned it, he said, but few claimed this to be the chief reason for their difficulties.

Assistant Dean Richard T. Gill '48, who, with Assistant Dean Harlan P. Hanson '46, handles the sophomore and junior classes, said yesterday that many men blamed their troubles on the fact that they had spent too much time investigating various service opportunities.

This occurred during the period when it appeared a student might be drafted out of school, Gill explained, and these men spent an excessive amount of time away from studies, trying to negotiate a "good deal" in the service. None, he said, admitted succumbing to a "what's the use" attitude.

Registrar Kennedy offered an additional explanation for the five percent rise in unsatisfactory records in the Class of 1952, suggesting that this year's juniors may not be up to the Class of 1951 academically, In their respective sophomore years, he pointed out, the Class of 1951 had 40.9 percent on the Dean's List while the Class of '52 had 30.5.

The run-down on rank lists in the College at the mid-year is as follows: Group I, 2.2 percent; II, 10; III, 20.1; IV, 25.7; V, 21.9; VI, 4.6; Unsatisfactory, 12.2; Incomplete, 1.9, and Withdrawals, 1.4