Upperclassmen's Midterm Marks To Be Reported If Unsatisfactory

The Faculty voted yesterday to have instructors file reports on unsatisfactory midterm grades of upperclassmen in large-enrollment courses.

All upperclass grades in courses marked "regularly open to freshmen" have normally been reported. But the Faculty decided earlier this Spring to abolish the freshman-course category completely.

Masters and senior tutors objected at that time that they used the midterm grades as a source of information about students in academic trouble--particularly sophomores. They asked the Administrative Board to draft a plan for reporting midterm grades. Under that plan, marks in courses with more than 25 students will be reported to senior tutors.

Richard T. Gill '48, Master of Leverett House, said yesterday he had reservations about the plan. He pointed out that instructors would not now be required to assign midterm grades, while this reporting has been mandatory in "courses regularly open to freshmen."

Gill said he thought the new system would work well, as long as instructors continued to report grades. "But in a year or two they must simply decide that there is no reason for this, and we will lose a source of information that is used regularly by senior tutors."

Gill said the midterm grades had been particularly useful in detecting sophomores headed for academic difficulty, and in making out graduate school and fellowship recommendations for seniors.

The Faculty took no other major action at its meeting yesterday--in fact, the meeting lasted only 20 minutes. The College's "Rules and Regulations for Students" for next year was approved without any other changes.

Dean Ford announced that John E. Murdoch, associate professor of the History of Science, will chair the new History of Science Department beginning July 1.