Alterin P/Fa %-Il by Tony Zamparutti Port Office, Frorn Dean [Holliday the Faculty Committee on C.] Heine," Said Villars

Continuous MIT Ad News Service sS I 111MssCambridge Since 1 881, I~Wassachusetts M~%~llpBasasa Volume 102, Number 22 esR8srps rdyArl3.181~W I CEP considers alterin p/fa %-Il By Tony Zamparutti port Office, frorn Dean [Holliday The faculty Committee on C.] Heine," said Villars. The CEP Education Policy (CEP) is con- has been considering pass/flil sidering major changes in "for basically the whole year.' freshman pass/fail, including reported student member James sending all freshmen a hidden Taylor '84. grade report spring semester. The The proposal under considera- CEP hopes to conclude its tion would: retain some form of deliberations and present a nmid-terrn freshman evaluation proposal for the May faculty forms; have all faculty report meeting, said Chairman of the freshman equivalent grades at the Faculty Felix M. H. Villars. end of the fall term; and send all freshmen a) Changes in pass/fail will go a1 printed sheet of their m into effect next semester with the equivalent grades at the end of the class of 1986 if acted upon next spring Semester. along with the -6 month, according to Villars. Registrars report, which records .2 In its meeting yesterday. the pass or Falil grades. i CEP discussed "a specific The proposal to change passi/- proposal that has come Irom the fail "is to me a very transparent Undergraduate Academic Surp- figlealf ... every student will so ----PI -·-- - 9 P11111 ~- 1 -- ~Cb--·e - ~C · lA I YII11 know he is on grades," declared I II i Louis Menand 111. Special Assis- I tant to the Provost. The proposal A history of pass/fail would ignore the intent of pass/- F, fail. he added. By Kenneth Snow The proposed changes (re liofroseuyw Izes at MIT ij In the fall of 1966 then-Dean Paul E. Gray '54, Chairman of "stretching the concept of passj- By Andrew H. Wold posed mostly of students. the Freshman Advisory Council, addressed a Joint meeting of Flail a1 bit,'' admitted Villars. Grahalm encouraged the audience the Committee on Education Policy (CEP) and the Student Com- "There's considerable sentiment "ls there hope that we can find to remain in their seats after the mittee on Educationai Policy (SCEP) fnd informall proposed in the faculty that two personal and international peace terms ot' lecture and talk to the student f reshman grades be removed from the record. pa.ss,s/fail" are excessive. in a nuclear age?' Dr. Billy counselors, who answered ques- The CEP voted the next fall to institute Lipass/ Iril system. The At its Graham opened an evangelistic April 22 nieeting, tions and discussed the topics system, similar to the one now in use except without hidden I miernbers of the lecture Wednesday night in CEP essentially' raised by Grahamr. About 50 to 75 grades, witS based on al plan initiated three years earl ier at the agreed on the content of the pas- Kresge Auditorium. ,I spectators remained to talk with Cal.lifrnia Institute of Technology. The Faculty Committee pas- s/fail proposal, The lecture was sponsored by according to the counselors. sed the pass/ffail plan Thursday. April 18, 1968 ior ; firer vear Taylor. -the Campus Crusade for Christ, Most of the counselors were trial basis bv a Of 105 to 33. The proposal is 'not the MIT Seekers, the Chinese Bi- a step memibers of the M IT community The future of passifail came up to open debate at the March toward freshman grades ble study group, and the United at all," and had attended training ses- 1972 faculty meeting. Members of the class of 1972, claimed Christian Fellowship. the first clrlss Lesley Saunders '82, stu- sions run by the Billy Graham on freshman pass/fail to graduate, seemed to have problems dent member of (.rlharm spoke about nuclear Lip- the CEP and Crusaide. plying to medical schools. The issue hld been discussed Chlalirmnan Or the war and disarmament only brief- within Student Com- For the rest of the the Committee on Evaluation of Freshman Performance mittee on ly, using that topic to introduce and the Educational Policy. hour,(;raham emphasized the im- Pre-Professional Advising Office. The lfaculty decided the evallua- 11 "I anticipate the his religious ideas. With or CEP will seek portance of God's role in achiev- tion of a freshman's perfornmane should be more concrete: faculty approval" without nuclear weapons. war is hid- of any changes ing peace. According to Grah-am, den letter grades should be available. While Some argued in pass'/fail at inherent in human nature, that the May 19 leculty there are several types of peace: this decision violated the spirit Of pass/fail, it was the best solu- meeting," said Villars. He noted Graharn asserted. "You can never spiritual, personal, interpersonal, lion available and was passed by the Faculty p soni really be at peace by 73 to 26. provisions of the proposal without God," find international. Graham did In April 1973, he contended. the faculty voted to implement the four Mattuck might require such appro/;ll, but not see much possibility in achiev- Proposals by a vote of 82 to 14. The proposals, named for Pro e.ts- most require only CEP Gralham maintained, however, approvals ing any or these "without coming sor Arthur P. Mattuck, Chairman of the pass/flit l committee, The next faculty meeting "itt is possible and desirable to in- occurs to (God.'' stituted: a credit limit for freshman vear: an internal eliminate all weapons fTil systen during finals week. "I do think of mass Graham began his two-month (only passing grades destruction." would be reported): a continuation of hid- going about it right tt the end of New England tour in- April. den grades: and the use of only one passing grade, rather than the semester .md Graharn cited examples and L circumventing Belore it conludes. he will preach high-pass low-pass system. AIl four proposals tire still part ol the Student input is horrible, quotations from scholars such as at seven New England colleges freshman passi;/il program. Also, an Ad Hoc Corninittee on declared Underaralduate Oscalr Wilde, Jean-Paul Sartre, Associ~l- and universities. His tour will Grading was established. tion and Blaise Pascal to reinforce his President Ken Seoel '83. culminate in Boston, at a series of In March 1975, the Faculty Committee voted I I I to 2 "There is widespread presentation. Graharn discussed to niain- a feeling Crusade nweetings to be held May tain the present form of passfail. students how to believe in Christ intellec- have been playing games 30 until June 6 at Boston Univer- Pass/fail was not seriously re-evaluated until Fall 1978 when with the pass/fail system, cramm- tually, although he admitted there sity's Nickerson Field. Graham the Ad Hoc Committee on Grading is no scientifle proof stiled that they Would in- in- a lot of courses under pass/- that Christ has spoken at Northeastern vestigate the future exists. of pass/faiil. The committee, however, wais faLil umbrella and doing poorly in University, The University of abolished within a year. them," Villars salid. Graham spoke to 3 near Massachusetts at Amherst, Yale (Please earn to page -1) capacity crowd - estimated at University, Harvard University. nine hundred persons - com- Boston College, and MIT. iI I i Draper protester arrested I By Tony Zamparutti cording to John Lindsay, a Har- Cambridge Police arrested 18 vard senior who organized the protesters, including an MIT stu- protest. dent, Rick McDermott '82, for Two protesters were placed in trespassing on Draper Labs jail. One man gave only his name property Monday morning. to police, refusing to cooperate. The 18 were protesting He was arraigned for $5000 bail, Draper's work in nuclear according to Lindsay. A woman weapons research and produc- who had previously been arrested tion. MIT divested itself of was sentenced to eight.days' Draper Labs in 1971, following imprisonment. The remaining student protests. defendants will stand trial next Over one hundred people Wednesday, said Lindsay. demonstrated outside Draper property last Saturday. There The protesters, members of the were no arrests. Draper Peace Conversion Group, Twelve of the protesters ar- notified the acting chief of Cambridge Police of their plan- rested Monday, all first offenders, ; pleaded no contest to the trespas- ned protest. "We've talked to him sing charge. They were fined for before," explained Lindsay. court costs, but opted for alter- "Most of the police are fairly native sentencing, and m ust either sympathetic." donate a pint of blood or work in McDermott could not be a shelter for homeless women, ac- reached for comment. _411 PAGE 2 THE TECH FRIDAY, APRIL 30. 1982 - ~ ~ a I I~g~ ·- ssA --- I- I-- CEP considers proposal to change pass/fail ((Contissl(/l 1rclll page than students with average den grades, Villars noted. the School of Engineering, that if tinued attendance and gradualLtion courseloads. and the CEP drop- Villars said he hones the CEP they give a student a degree, it are being discussed by .s ome Freshmen vrten do not suf- ped consideration of a 48-unit will conclude debate on the pass/- means what it's supposed to Ifaculty members, noted VillarsS. ''I ficiently learn their core subjects, limit on freshman loads. Iail question this semester. He mean. think students should not be un- such as math and physics, Taylor '"You cannot completely noted that in the future "I see Proposals for minimum grade sympalheticsto that lidea) becaause nte 3. r 1 _ divorce the operation of the pas- pressure building up, especially in point average standards for con- it protectx the value of a degr,ee., "lhere is a feeling In someI si/l;lil system from the operation departmients some ol their stu- of the advisory system, there dents ere not prepared lor would be no need to change pas- upper-level classes" because they s/fail.

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